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THE LADY OF THE LAKE 




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From tile paiiitinif t>y Sir Thonias Lawrence (1820), now at Windsor Castle. 



SCOTT'S 



LADY OF THE LAKE 



EDITED BY 

EDWIN GINN 



BOSTON, U.S.A. 

GINN & ( OMPANY, PUBLISHERS 

Cbe atl)en8eum press 

1903 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS. 

Two Copies Receiveo 

JUN 2G 1903 

Copyiignt bntry 
CLASS a- XXc. No. 

Go %€%- 

COPY B. 



Copyright, 1884, 1903, by 
EDWIN GINN 



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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



PREFACE 



This edition of '' The Lady of the Lake," originally 
prepared for young children, has now been revised to 
bring it into conformity with the other numbers in the 
Standard English Classics Series. Many of the simpler 
notes have been omitted, and such changes have been 
made in the introductory matter as to complete what- 
ever apparatus is needed in studying so simple a book. 
The general method has been retained. 

In abridging and quoting from Scott and other writers, 
we have used their own language without change as 
far as possible, thinking it better to retain the original 
vigorous expression, at the risk sometimes of its being 
a little abrupt, than to restate the thought less forcibly 
in a smoother connection of sentences. 

We regret that no more space could be allowed for 
the biography, but we trust enough has been given to 
lead the pupil to read Lockhart's complete biography 
of Scott. Great as he appears in his works, his real 
grandeur is shown in his quiet, unassuming life, in his 
unselfish devotion to the comforts of others, and in 
his heroic struggle, when crippled with disease, against 
adverse fortune. The text of Dr. Rolfe has been 
employed by permission. 

Boston, April, 1903. 



CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION 

Life of Walter Scott : Page 

I. Abridged from his Autobiography . . ix 

II. Abridged mainly from Lockhart and Hutton xx 

III. A Tribute from Lockhart .... xxx 

The Lady of the Lake : 

I. The Highlanders and Borderers — James V xxxiv 

II. Scott's Introduction (1830) . . . . xlv 

III. The Poem li 

Table of Scott's Life and Works .... liii 

THE LADY OF THE LAKE 

Argument i 

Map 2 

Canto I. The Chase 3 

11. The Island 37 

III. The Gathering y^ 

IV. The Prophecy 108 

V. The Combat 142 

VI. The Guard-Room 178 

Index to Notes 213 



INTRODUCTION 



LIFE OF WALTER SCOTT 



\^A bridged from his Autobiography^ 

Walter Scott, my father, was born in 1729, and educated 
to the profession of a Writer to the Signet.-^ I was born, as I 
believe, on the 15th August, 1771. I showed every sign of 
health and strength until I was about eighteen months old. 
One night, I have been often told, I showed great reluctance 
to be caught and put to bed ; and after being chased about 
the room was apprehended and consigned to my dormitory 
with some difficulty. It was the last time I was to show such 
personal agility. In the morning I was discovered to be 
affected with the fever which often accompanies the cutting 
of large teeth. It held me three days. On the fourth, when 
they went to bathe me as usual, they discovered that I had 
lost the power of my right leg. My grandfather, an excellent 
anatomist as well as physician, the late worthy Alexander 
Wood, and many others of the most respectable of the faculty, 
were consulted. There appeared to be no dislocation or 
sprain; blisters and other topical remedies were applied in 
vain. The advice of my grandfather, Dr. Rutherford, that I 
should be sent to reside in the country, to give the chance of 
^An Edinburgh solicitor. 



X THE LADY OF THE LAKE 

natural exertion, excited by free air and liberty, was first 
resorted to ; and before I have the recollection of the slightest 
event I was, agreeably to this friendly counsel, an inmate in 
the farmhouse of Sandy- Knowe. 

It is here at Sandy-Knowe, in the residence of my paternal 
grandfather, already mentioned, that I have the first conscious- 
ness of existence. 

My grandmother, in whose youth the old Border depreda- 
tions were matter of recent tradition, used to tell me many a 
tale of Watt of Harden, Wight Willie of Aikwood, Jamie Telfer 
of the fair Dodhead, and other heroes, — merrymen all of the 
persuasion and calling of Robin Hood and Little John. Two 
or three old books which lay in the window seat were explored 
for my amusement in the tedious winter days. Automathes and 
Ramsay's Tea-table Aliscellany were my favorites, although at 
a later period an odd volume of Josephus's Wars of the Jews 
divided my partiality. 

My kind and affectionate aunt. Miss Janet Scott, whose 
memory will ever be dear to me, used to read these works to 
me with admirable patience, until I could repeat long passages 
by heart. The ballad of Hardyknute I was early master of, 
to the great annoyance of almost our only visitor, the worthy 
clergyman of the parish. Dr. Duncan, who had not patience 
to have a sober chat interrupted by my shouting forth this 
ditty. Methinks I now see his tall, thin, emaciated figure, 
his legs cased in clasped gambadoes, and his face of a length 
that would have rivaled the Knight of La Mancha's, and hear 
him exclaiming, " One may as well speak in the mouth of a 
cannon as where that child is." 

I was in my fourth year when my father was advised that 
the Bath waters might be of some advantage to my lame- 
ness. My affectionate aunt, although such a journey promised 
to a person of her retired habits anything but pleasure or 



INTRODUCTION xi 

amusement, undertook as readily to accompany me to the wells 
of Bladud as if she had expected all the delight that ever the 
prospect of a watering place held out to its most impatient 
visitants. My health was by this time a good deal confirmed 
by the country air and the influence of that imperceptible and 
unfatiguing exercise to which the good sense of my grand- 
father had subjected me ; for, when the day was fine, I was 
usually carried out and laid down beside the old shepherd, 
among the crags or rocks round which he fed his sheep. The 
impatience of a child soon inclined me to struggle with my 
infirmity, and I began by degrees to stared, to walk, and to 
run. Although the limb affected was much shrunk and con- 
tracted, my general health, which was of more importance, 
was much strengthened by being frequently in the open air; 
and, in a word, I, who in a city had probably been condemned 
to hopeless and helpless decrepitude, was now a healthy, high- 
spirited, and, my lameness apart, a sturdy child. 

During my residence at Bath I acquired the rudiments of 
reading at a day school kept by an old dame near our lodg- 
ings, and I had never a more regular teacher, although I 
think I did not attend her a quarter of a year. An occasional 
lesson from my aunt supplied the rest. Afterwards, when 
grown a big boy, I had a few lessons from Mr. Stalker of 
Edinburgh, and finally from the Rev. Mr. Cleeve. But I 
never acquired a just pronunciation, nor could I read with 
much propriety. 

The most delightful recollections of Bath are dated after 
the arrival of my uncle. Captain Robert Scott, v/ho introduced 
me to all the little amusements which suited my age, and, 
above all, to the theater. The play was As Yok Like It ; 
and the witchery of the whole scene is alive in my mind at 
this moment. I made, I believe, noise more than enough, 
and remember being so much scandalized at the quarrel 



XU THE LADY OF THE LAKE 

between Orlando and his brother, m the first scene, that I 
screamed out, " A'n't they brothers?" A few weeks' resi- 
dence at home convinced me, who had till then been an only 
child in the house of my grandfather, that a quarrel between 
brothers was a very natural event. 

After being a year at Bath I returned first to Edinburgh, 
and afterwards for a season to Sandy-Knowe ; and thus the 
time whiled away till about my eighth year, when it was 
thought sea bathing might be of service to my lameness. 

For this purpose, still under my aunt's protection, I remained 
some weeks at Prestonpans, — a circumstance not worth men- 
tioning, excepting to record my juvenile intimacy with an old 
military veteran, Dalgetty by name, who had pitched his tent 
in that little village, after all his campaigns, subsisting upon 
an ensign's half pay, though called by courtesy a Captain. 
As this old gentleman, who had been in all the German wars, 
found very few to listen to his tales of military feats, he 
formed a sort of alliance with me, and I used invariably to 
attend him for the pleasure of hearing those communications. 
Sometimes our conversation turned on the American war, 
which was then raging. It was about the time of Burgoyne's 
unfortunate expedition, to which my Captain and I augured 
different conclusions. Somebody had shown me a map of 
North America, and, struck with the rugged appearance of 
the country and the quantity of lakes, I expressed some 
doubts on the subject of the General's arriving safely at the 
end of his journey, which were very indignantly refuted by 
the Captain. The news of the Saratoga disaster, while it gave 
me a little triumph, rather shook my intimacy with the veteran. 

Besides this veteran, I found another ally at Prestonpans in 
the person of George Constable, an old friend of my father's. 
He was the first person who told me about Falstaff and Hot- 
spur, and other characters in Shakespeare. What idea I 



INTRODUCTION xiii 

annexed to them I know not, but I must have annexed some, 
for I remember quite well being interested in the subject. 
Indeed, I rather suspect that children derive impulses of a 
powerful and important kind in hearing things which they 
cannot entirely comprehend ; and, therefore, that to write 
dowfi to children's understanding is a mistake : set them on 
the scent, and let them puzzle it out. 

From Prestonpans I was transported back to my father's 
house in George's Square, which continued to be my most 
estabHshed place of residence until my marriage in 1797. I 
felt the change, from being a single indulged brat to becom- 
ing a member of a large family, very severely ; for, under the 
gentle government of my kind grandmother, who was meek- 
ness itself, and of my aunt, who, though of an higher temper, 
was exceedingly attached to me, I had acquired a degree of 
license which could not be permitted in a large family. I 
had sense enough, however, to bend my temper to my new 
circumstances ; but, such was the agony which I internally 
experienced, that I have guarded against nothing more, in 
the education of my own family, than against their acquiring 
habits of self-willed caprice and domination. I found much 
consolation, during this period of mortification, in the par- 
tiality of my mother. She joined to a hght and happy tem- 
per of mind a strong turn to study poetry and works of 
imagination. 

My lameness and my solitary habits had made me a toler- 
able reader, and my hours of leisure were usually spent in read- 
ing aloud to my mother Pope's translation of Homer, which, 
excepting a few traditionary ballads, and the songs in Allan 
Ramsay's Evergree?t, was the first poetry which I perused. 
My mother had good natural taste and great feehng : she 
used to make me pause upon those passages which expressed 
generous and worthy sentiments, and, if she could not divert 



xiv THE LADY OF THE LAKE 

me from those which were descriptive of battle and tumult, 
she contrived at least to divide my attention between them. 
My own enthusiasm, however, was chiefly awakened by the 
wonderful and the terrible — the common taste of children, 
but in which I have remained a child even unto this day. I 
got by heart, not as a task, but almost without intending it, 
the passages with which I was most pleased, and used to 
recite them aloud, both when alone and to others — more 
wilHngly, however, in my hours of solitude, for I had observed 
some auditors smile, and I dreaded ridicule at that time of 
life more than I have ever done since. 

In 1778 I was sent to the second class of the Grammar 
School, or High School of Edinburgh, then taught by Mr. 
Luke Eraser, a good Latin scholar and a very worthy man. 
Though I had received, with my brothers, in private, lessons 
of Latin from Mr. James French, now a minister of the Kirk 
of Scotland, I was nevertheless rather behind the class in 
which I was placed both in years and in progress. This was 
a real disadvantage, and one to which a boy of lively temper 
and talents ought to be as little exposed as one who might be 
less expected to make up his leeway, as it is called. The 
situation has the unfortunate effect of reconciling a boy of 
the former character (which in a posthumous work I may 
claim for my own) to holding a subordinate station among his 
class fellows — to which he would otherwise affix disgrace. 
There is also, from the constitution of the High School, a cer- 
tain danger not sufficiently attended to. The boys take pre- 
cedence in their places^ as they are called, according to their 
merit, and it requires a long while, in general, before even a 
clever boy, if he falls behind the class, or is put into one for 
which he is not quite ready, can force his way to the situation 
which his abilities really entitle him to hold. But, in the 
meanwhile, he is necessarily led to be the associate and 



INTRODUCTION XV 

companion of those inferior spirits with whom he is placed ; 
for the system of precedence, though it does not hmit the gen- 
eral intercourse among the boys, has nevertheless the effect 
of throwing them into clubs and coteries, according to the 
vicinity of the seats they hold. A boy of good talents, there- 
fore, placed even for a time among his inferiors, especially if 
they be also his elders, learns to participate in their pursuits 
and objects of ambition, which are usually very distinct from 
the acquisition of learning; and it will be well if he does 
not also imitate them in that indifference which is contented 
with busthng over a lesson so as to avoid punishment, without 
affecting superiority or aiming at reward. It was probably 
owing to this circumstance, that, although at a more advanced 
period of life I have enjoyed considerable facility in acquiring 
languages, I did not make any great figure at the High School ; 
or, at least, any exertions which I made were desultory and 
Httle to be depended on. 

Our class contained some very excellent scholars. As for 
myself, I glanced like a meteor from one end of the class to 
the other, and commonly disgusted my kind master as much 
by negligence and frivolity as I occasionally pleased him by 
flashes of intellect and talent. Among my companions my 
good nature and a flow of ready imagination rendered me 
very popular. Boys are uncommonly just in their feelings, 
and at least equally generous. My lameness, and the efforts 
which I made to su])ply that disadvantage, by making up in 
address what I wanted in activity, engaged the latter principle 
in my favor ; and in the winter play hours, when hard exercise 
was impossible, my tales used to assemble an admiring audi- 
ence round Lucky Brown's fireside, and happy was he that 
could sit next to the inexhaustible narrator. I was also, 
though often negligent of my own task, always ready to assist 
my friends ; and hence I had a Httle party of stanch partisans 



XVI THE LADY OF THE LAKE 

and adherents, stout of hand and heart, though somewhat dull 
of head, — the very tools for raising a hero to eminence. So, 
on the whole, I made a brighter figure in the yards than in 
the class. 

After having been three years under Mr. Eraser, our class was, 
in the usual routine of the school, turned over to Dr. Adam, 
the Rector. It was from this respectable man that I first 
learned the value of the knowledge I had hitherto considered 
only as a burdensome task. It was the fashion to remain two 
years at his class, where we read Caesar and Livy and Sallust, 
in prose; Virgil, Horace, and Terence, in verse. I had by 
this time mastered, in some degree, the difficulties of the lan- 
guage, and began to be sensible of its beauties. This was 
really gathering grapes from thistles ; nor shall I soon forget 
the swelling of my little pride when the Rector pronounced, 
that though many of my school-fellows understood the Latin 
better, Gualterus Scott was behind few in following and enjoy- 
ing the author's meaning. Thus encouraged, I distinguished 
myself by some attempts at poetical versions from Horace and 
Virgil. Dr. Adam used to invite his scholars to such essays, 
but never made them tasks. I gained some distinction upon 
these occasions, and the Rector in future took much notice 
of me ; and his judicious mixture of censure and praise went 
far to counterbalance my habits of indolence and inattention. 
I saw I was expected to do well, and I was piqued in honor 
to vindicate my master's favorable opinion. I climbed, there- 
fore, to the first form ; and, though I never made a first-rate 
Latinist, my school-fellows, and what was of more consequence, 
I myself, considered that I had a character for learning to 
maintain. 

From Dr. Adam's class I should, according to the usual rou- 
tine, have proceeded immediately to college. But, fortunately, 
I was not yet to lose, by a total dismission from constraint. 



INTRODUCTION xvii 

the acquaintance with the Latin which I had acquired. My 
health had become rather deUcate from rapid growth, and my 
father was easily persuaded to allow me to spend half a year at 
Kelso with my kind aunt, Miss Janet Scott, whose inmate I 
again became. It was hardly worth mentioning that I had 
frequently visited her during our short vacations. 

In the meanwhile my acquaintance with EngHsh literature 
was gradually extending itself. In the intervals of my school 
hours I had always perused with avidity such books of history 
or poetry or voyages and travels as chance presented to me, 
— not forgetting the usual, or rather ten times the usual, 
quantity of fairy tales, eastern stories, romances, etc. These 
studies were totally unregulated and undirected. My tutor 
thought it almost a sin to open a profane play or poem ; and 
my mother, besides that she might be in some degree tram- 
meled by the religious scruples which he suggested, had no 
longer the opportunity to hear me read poetry as formerly. 
I found, however, in her dressing room (where I slept at one 
time) some odd volumes of Shakespeare ; nor can I easily for- 
get the rapture with which I sate up in my shirt reading them 
by the light of a fire in her apartment, until the bustle of the 
family rising from supper warned me it was time to creep back 
to my bed, where I was supposed to have been safely deposited 
since nine o'clock. Chance, however, threw in my way a 
poetical preceptor. This was no other than the excellent and 
benevolent Dr. Blacklock, well known at that time as a literary 
character. I know not how I attracted his attention, and that 
of some of the young men who boarded in his family ; but so 
it was that I became a frequent and favored guest. The kind 
old man opened to me the stores of his library, and through his 
recommendation I became intimate with Ossian and Spenser. 
I was delighted with both, yet I think chiefly with the latter 
poet. The tawdry repetitions of the Ossianic phraseology 



xvili THE LADY OF THE LAKE 

disgusted me rather sooner than might have been expected from 
my age. But Spenser I could have read forever. Too young 
to trouble myself about the allegory, I considered all the 
knights and ladies and dragons and giants in their outward 
and exoteric sense, and God only knows how delighted I was 
to find myself in such society. As I had always a wonderful 
facility in retaining in my memory whatever verses pleased 
me, the quantity of Spenser's stanzas which I could repeat 
was really marvelous. But this memory of mine was a very 
fickle ally, and has through my whole life acted merely upon 
its own capricious motion, and might have enabled me to 
adopt old Beattie of Meikledale's answer, when complimented 
by a certain reverend divine on the strength of the same 
faculty : " No, sir," answered the old Borderer, " I have no 
command of my memory. It only retains what hits my fancy ; 
and probably, sir, if you were to preach to me for two hours, 
I would not be able when you finished to remember a word 
you had been saying." My memory was precisely of the 
same kind : it seldom failed to preserve most tenaciously a 
favorite passage of poetry, a play-house ditty, or, above all, 
a Border-raid ballad ; but names, dates, and the other techni- 
calities of history escaped me in a most melancholy degree. 
The philosophy of history, a much more important subject, 
was also a sealed book at this period of my life ; but I gradu- 
ally assembled much of what was striking and picturesque 
in historical narrative ; and when, in riper years, I attended 
more to the deduction of general principles, I was furnished 
with a powerful host of examples in illustration of them. I 
was, in short, like an ignorant gamester, who kept up a good 
hand until he knew how to play it. 

I left the High School, therefore, with a great quantity of 
general information, ill arranged, indeed, and collected with- 
out system ; yet deeply impressed upon my mind, readily 



INTRODUCTION xix 

assorted by my power of connection and memory, and gilded, 
if I may be permitted to say so, by a vivid and active imagi- 
nation. If my studies were not under any direction at Edin- 
burgh, in the country, it may be well imagined, they were less 
so. A respectable subscription Hbrary, a circulating library of 
ancient standing, and some private bookshelves were open to 
my random perusal, and I waded into the stream Hke a blind 
man into a ford, without the power of searching my way, unless 
by groping for it. My appetite for books was as ample and 
indiscriminating as it was indefatigable, and I since have had 
too frequently reason to repent that few ever read so much, 
and to so little purpose. 

Among the valuable acquisitions I made about this time 
was an acquaintance with Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered. But, 
above all, I then first became acquainted with Bishop Percy's 
Reliques of Ancient Poetry, I remember well the spot where 
I read these volumes for the first time. It was beneath a huge 
platanus tree, in the ruins of what had been intended for an 
old-fashioned arbor in the garden I have mentioned. The 
summer day sped onward so fast, that, notwithstanding the 
sharp appetite of thirteen, I forgot the hour of dinner, was 
sought for with anxiety, and was still found entranced in my 
intellectual banquet. To read and to remember was in this 
instance the same thing, and henceforth I overwhelmed my 
school- fellows, and all who would hearken to me, with tragical 
recitations from the ballads of Bishop Percy. The first time, 
too, I could scrape a few shillings together, which were not 
common occurrences with me, I bought unto myself a copy of 
these beloved volumes ; nor do I believe I ever read a book 
half so frequently or with half the enthusiasm. About this 
period also I became acquainted with the works of Richardson, 
and those of Mackenzie, with Fielding, Smollett, and some 
others of our best novelists. 



XX THE LADY OF THE LAKE 

To this period also I can trace distinctly the awaking of 
that delightful feeling for the beauties of natural objects which 
has never since deserted me. The neighborhood of Kelso, the 
most beautiful, if not the most romantic village in Scotland, is 
eminently calculated to awaken these ideas. 

From this time the love of natural beauty, more especially 
when combined with ancient ruins, or remains of our fathers' 
piety or splendor, became with me an insatiable passion, which, 
if circumstances had permitted, I would willingly have gratified 
by traveling over half the globe. 

If, however, it should ever fall to the lot of youth to peruse 
these pages — let such a reader remember that it is with the 
deepest regret that I recollect in my manhood the opportu- 
nities of learning which I neglected in my youth ; that through 
every part of my literary career I have felt pinched and ham- 
pered by my own ignorance ; and that I would at this moment 
give half the reputation I have had the good fortune to acquire, 
if by doing so I could rest the remaining part upon a sound 
foundation of learning and science. 



II 

\_Abridged mainly from Lockhart and Hutton\ 

As Scott grew up, entered the classes of the college, and 
began his legal studies, first as apprentice to his father, and 
then in the law classes of the University, he became noticeable 
to all his friends for his gigantic memory and the rich stores 
of romantic material with which it was loaded. 

His reading was almost all in the direction of military 
exploit, or romance and mediaeval legend and the later Bor- 
der songs of his own country. He learned Italian and read 
Ariosto. Later he learned Spanish and devoured Cervantes, 



INTRODUCTION xxi 

whose " novdas,'' ^ he said, " first inspired him with the ambi- 
tion to excel in fiction " ; and all that he read and admired 
he remembered. 

It might be supposed that, with these romantic tastes, Scott 
could scarcely have made much of a lawyer, though the infer- 
ence would, I believe, be quite mistaken. His father, how- 
ever, reproached him with being better fitted for a peddler than 
a lawyer, — so persistently did he trudge over all the neigh- 
boring counties in search of the beauties of nature and the 
historic associations of battle, siege, or legend. 

In spite of all this love of excitement Scott became a sound 
lawyer, and might have been a great one had not his pride of 
character, the impatience of his genius, and the stir of his 
imagination rendered him indisposed to wait and slave in the 
precise manner which the prepossessions of solicitors appoint. 

He continued to practice at the bar — nominally at least — 
for fourteen years, but the life of literature and the Hfe of the 
bar hardly ever suit, and in Scott's case they suited the less, 
that he felt himself likely to be a dictator in the one field, and 
only a postulant in the other. Literature was a far greater 
gainer by his choice than law could have been a loser. For 
his capacity for the law he shared with thousands of able men, 
his capacity for Hterature with few or none. 

Love and Marriage 

One Sunday, about two years before his call to the bar, 
Scott offered his umbrella to a young lady of much beauty 
who was coming out of the Greyfriars Church during a shower. 
The umbrella was graciously accepted ; and it was not an 
unprecedented consequence that Scott fell in love with the 
borrower, who turned out to be Margaret, daughter of Sir John 
1 Novelas. Novels or romances. 



xxil THE LADY OF THE LAKE 

and Lady Jane Stuart Belches, of Ivernay. For near six years 
after this, Scott indulged the hope of marrying this lady, and 
it does not seem doubtful that the lady herself was in part 
responsible for this impression. 

For some reason this strong attachment was broken off. It 
may have been on account of some disagreement between the 
young people themselves, but most hkely from a difference in 
the rank of the parties. It was his first and only deep pas- 
sion, so far as ever can be known to us, and had a great 
influence on his after Hfe, both in keeping him free from 
some of the most dangerous temptations in life during his 
youth, and in creating in him an interior world of dreams and 
recollections, on which his imagination was continually fed. 

The pride which was always so notable a feature in Scott 
probably sustained him through the keen inward pain which 
it is very certain from a great many of his own words that he 
must have suffered in this uprooting of his most passionate 
hopes. And it was in part probably the same pride which led 
him to form within the year a new tie, his engagement to 
Mademoiselle Charpentier, or Miss Carpenter, as she was 
usually called, the daughter of a French royaHst of Lyons who 
had died early in the revolution. 

She made on the whole a very good wife, only one to be pro- 
tected by him from every care, and not one to share Scott's 
deeper anxieties or to participate in his dreams. 

Border Minstrelsy and Maturer Poems 

Ever since his earUest college days Scott had been collect- 
ing, in those excursions of his into Liddesdale and elsewhere, 
materials for a book on The Mifistrelsy of the Scottish Border ; 
and the pubHcation of this work, in January, 1802, was his first 
great hterary success. The whole edition of eight hundred 



INTRODUCTION xxiii 

copies was sold within the year, while the skill and care which 
Scott had devoted to the historical illustration of the ballads, 
and the force and spirit of his own new ballads, written in 
imitation of the old, gained him at once a very high literary 
name. And the name was well deserved. 

Scott's genius flowered late. It was not until he was already 
thirty-one years of age that he wrote the first canto of his first 
great romance in verse. The Lay of the Last Minstrel. Jeffrey 
says of the three poems : ''The Lay, if I may venture to state 
the creed now estabhshed, is, I should say, generally considered 
as the most natural and original, Marmion as the most power- 
ful and splendid, The Lady of the Lake as the most interesting, 
romantic, picturesque, and graceful of his great poems." 

It is in painting those moods and exploits, in relation to 
which Scott shares most completely the feelings of ordinary 
men, but experiences them with far greater strength and purity 
than ordinary men, that he triumphs as a poet. 

His romance is like his native scenery, — bold, bare, and 
rugged, with a swift, deep stream of strong, pure feeling run- 
ning through it. There is plenty of color in his pictures, as 
there is on the Scotch hills when the heather is out. And so 
too there is plenty of intensity in his romantic situations ; but 
it is the intensity of simple, natural, unsophisticated, hardy, 
and manly characters. 

Partnership with the Ballantyne Brothers 

Before proceeding further with Scott's Hfe, it may be well 
to mention briefly his commercial relations with the Ballan- 
tyne Brothers, which had such an important bearing on the 
rest of his Hfe. 

About the year 1805, before he had any idea of the gains 
he might derive from his writings, and while his income from 



xxiv THE LADY OF THE LAKE 

other sources was very limited, he formally, but secretly, 
entered into the printing business as a partner with his old 
schoolmate, James Ballantyne. 

Although Ballantyne kept his accounts in a loose way, he 
otherwise managed the business fairly well ; and it might have 
proved a good investment had not Scott soon after, in order 
to furnish work to the printing office, engaged in the publishing 
and bookselling business with John Ballantyne. 

Great risks attend this business, requiring good financial 
ability, a large acquaintance with men, sound judgment, and 
close application ; yet Scott selected a frivolous man of 
pleasure, with neither character nor capacity, as a partner, 
relying probably on his own judgment for managing the pub- 
lishing house. For such a task he was wholly unfitted. 
Because he was fond of antiquarian and historical researches, 
he supposed the people were eager for such reading ; and 
because some of his friends desired to write unsalable books, 
he could not refuse to publish them. It is not sufficient for 
a publisher to ascertain that the book offered is a good one, 
but he must know whether it is so well adapted to the times 
and the wants of the community as to command a reasonable 
sale. 

Besides the firm's making so many bad investments, John 
Ballantyne was squandering its money in dissipation, so that 
Scott was kept in constant fear of bankruptcy all through the 
years 1813 and 18 14; and it was not until the publication of 
Waverley, opening up the richest vein in his own genius and 
popularity, that these alarms were ended. 

So great was the success of this novel that the leading pub- 
lishers were very eager to purchase a share in it and subse- 
quent issues. Constable, of Edinburgh, secured the works, 
but on condition that he should buy also a large part of the 
worthless stock of John Ballantyne & Co. This sale enabled 



INTRODUCTION xxv 

Scott to wind up that unfortunate enterprise fairly well, 
although the printing house of James Ballantyne & Co. still 
held some of their notes, and Constable, on whom he was 
depending for money to extend his estate, build his castle, 
and pay his other expenses, was seriously crippled by the 
purchase of all this unsalable stock. 

The Waverley Novels 

In the summer of 1814 Scott took up again and completed 
— almost at a single heat — a fragment of a Jacobite story 
begun in 1805 and then laid aside. It was published anony- 
mously, and its astonishing success turned back again the scales 
of Scott's fortunes, already inclining ominously towards a 
catastrophe. This story was Waverley. 

Scott's method of composition was always the same ; and, 
when writing an imaginative work, the rate of progress seems 
to have been pretty even, depending much more on the 
absence of disturbing engagements than on any mental- irregu- 
larity. The morning was always his brightest time ; but morn- 
ing or evening, in country or in town, well or ill, writing with 
his own pen or dictating to an amanuensis in the intervals 
of screaming fits due to the torture of cramp in the stomach, 
Scott spun away at his imaginative web almost as evenly as a 
silkworm spins at its golden cocoon. 

In the fourteen most effective years of Scott's literary life, 
during which he wrote twenty-three novels besides shorter 
tales, the best stories appear to have been on the whole the 
most rapidly written, probably because they took the strongest 
hold of the author's imagination. 

But though, to our larger experience, Scott's achievement, 
in respect of mere fertiHty, is by no means the miracle which 
it once seemed, I do not think one of his successors can 



xxvi THE LADY OF THE LAKE 

compare with him for a moment in the ease and truth with which 
he painted, not merely the hfe of his own time and country, — 
seldom indeed that of precisely his own time, — but that of 
days long past, and often, too, of scenes far distant. The most 
powerful of all his stories, Old Mortality^ was the story of a 
period more than a century and a quarter before he wrote ; 
and others — which, though inferior to this in force, are never- 
theless, when compared with the so-called historical romances 
of any other Enghsh writer, what sunlight is to moonlight, if 
you can say as much for the latter as to admit even that com- 
parison — go back to the period of the Tudors, that is, two 
centuries and a half. Quentin Durward runs back farther still, 
far into the previous century, while Ivan/we and The Talisman 
carry us back more than five hundred years. 

The most striking feature of Scott's romances is that, for 
the most part, they are pivoted on public rather than mere 
private interests and passions. With but few exceptions — 
(^The Antiquary, St. Rona7i^s Well, and Guy Ma?tnering are 
the most important) — Scott's novels gives us an imaginative 
view, not of mere individuals, but of individuals as they are 
affected by the public strifes and social divisions of the age. 
No man can read Scott without being more of a public man. 

Scott in Adversity 

With the year 1825 came a financial crisis, and Constable 
began to tremble for his solvency. From the date of his 
baronetcy (1820), Sir Walter had launched out into a con- 
siderable increase of expenditure. He got plans on a rather 
large scale in 182 1 for the extension of Abbotsford, which 
were all carried out. To meet his expenses in this and other 
ways he received Constable's bills for " four unnamed works 
of fiction," of which he had not written a line. 



INTRODUCTION xxvii 

Nor were the obligations he incurred on his own account, 
and that of his family, the only ones by which he was burdened. 
He was always incurring expenses, often heavy expenses, for 
other people. Such obligations, however, would have been 
nothing when compared with Sir Walter's means, had all his bills 
on Constable been duly honored, and had not the printing firm 
of Ballantyne and Co. been so deeply involved with Constable's 
house that it necessarily became insolvent when he stopped. 
Taken altogether, I believe that Sir Walter earned during his 
own lifetime at least ^140,000 by his literary work alone, 
probably more ; while even on his land and building combined 
he did not apparently spend more than half that sum. 

Thus even his loss of the price of several novels by Con- 
stable's failure would not seriously have compromised Scott's 
position, but for his share in the printing house, which fell 
with Constable, and the obligations of which amounted to 

;^II7,000. 

As Scott had always forestalled his income, — spending the 
purchase-money of his poems and novels before they were 
written, — such a failure as this, at the age of fifty-five, when 
all the freshness of his youth was gone out of him, when he 
saw his son's prospects blighted as well as his own, and knew 
perfectly that James Ballantyne, unassisted by him, could 
never hope to pay any fraction of the debt worth mentioning, 
would have been paralyzing, had he not been a man of iron 
nerve, and of a pride and courage hardly ever equaled. 
Domestic' calamity, too, was not far off. For two years he 
had been watching the failure of his wife's health with increas- 
ing anxiety, and, as calamities seldom come single, her illness 
took a most serious form at the very time when the blow fell, 
and she died within four months of the failure. Nay, Scott 
was himself unwell at the critical moment, and was taking 
sedatives which discomposed his brain. 



xxviii THE LADY OF THE LAKE 

And this was Scott's preparation for his failure, and the 
bold resolve which followed it, — to work for his creditors as 
he had worked for himself, and to pay off, if possible, the 
whole ^117,000 by his own literary exertions. 

His estate was conveyed to trustees for the benefit of his 
creditors till such time as he should pay off Ballantyne and 
Co.'s debt, which of course in his lifetime he never did. Yet 
between January, 1826, and January, 1828, he earned for his 
creditors very nearly ^£40,000. Woodstock sold for ^8228, 
"a matchless sale," as Sir Walter remarked, "for less than 
three mionths' work." Had Sir Walter's health lasted, he 
would have redeemed his obligations on behalf of Ballantyne 
and Co. within eight or nine years at most from the time 
of his failure. But what is more remarkable still is that after 
his health failed he struggled on with little more than half a 
brain, but a whole will, to work while it was yet day, though 
the evening was dropping fast. 

Not only did he row much harder against the stream of 
fortune than he had ever rowed with it, but, what required 
still more resolution, he fought on against the growing con- 
viction that his imagination would not kindle, as it used to 
do, to its old heat. 

He struggled on even to the end, and did not consent to 
try the experiment of a voyage and visit to Italy till his imme- 
diate work was done. But the rest came too late. So intense 
and continuous had been his application to work that even 
his very robust constitution was so completely exhausted that 
it was no longer able to repair the ravages of disease. He 
spent several months abroad, visiting Malta, Naples, Rome, 
Venice, and other places of interest, without improvement. 
He intended to visit Goethe, but the death of the great author 
at this time changed his plans, increasing his desire for an 
immediate return home. He sank rapidly, becoming quite 



INTRODUCTION xxix 

unconscious during the latter part of the homeward journey, 
until his eye caught the towers of Abbotsford, when he sprang 
up with a cry of delight. Mr. Laidlaw, a dear friend, was 
waiting for him, and he met him with a cry, "■ Ha ! WilHe 
Laidlaw. O, man, how often I have thought of you ! " His 
dogs came round his chair, and began to fawn on him and Hck 
his hands, while Sir Walter smiled or sobbed over them. The 
next morning he was wheeled about his garden, and on the 
following morning was out in this way for a couple of hours ; 
within a day or two he fancied that he could write again, 
but on taking the pen into his hand his fingers could not 
clasp it, and he sank back with tears rolhng down his cheek. 
Later, when Laidlaw said in his hearing that Sir Walter had 
had a Httle repose, he replied, " No, WilHe ; no repose for 
Sir Walter but in the grave." As the tears rushed from his 
eyes, his old pride revived. "Friends," he said, "don't let 
me expose myself; get me to bed, — that is the only place." 
A few days afterwards, awaking conscious and composed, he 
desired to see his son-in-law. " Lockhart," he said, " I may 
have but a minute to speak to you. My dear, be a good man, 
— be virtuous, — be religious, — be a good man. Nothing 
else will give you any comfort when you come to he here." 
He paused, and Lockhart said, " Shall I send for Sophia and 
Anne?" ''No," said he, "don't disturb them. Poor souls! 
I know they were up all night. God bless you all ! " With 
this he sank into a very tranquil sleep, and, indeed, he scarcely 
afterwards gave any sign of consciousness. He died Sept. 21, 
1832, sixty-one years and one month old. 

Well might Lord Chief Baron Shepherd apply to Scott 
Cicero's description of some contemporary of his own, who 
" had borne adversity wisely, who had not been broken by 
fortune, and who, amidst the buffets of fate, had maintained 
his dignity." There was in Sir Walter, I think, at least as 



XXX THE LADY OF THE LAKE 

much of the Stoic as the Christian. But Stoic or Christian, 
he was a hero of the old indomitable type. Even the last 
fragments of his imaginative power were all turned to account 
by that unconquerable will, amidst the discouragement of 
friends and the still more disheartening doubts of his own 
mind. Like the headland stemming a rough sea, he was 
gradually worn away, but never crushed. 

Sir Walter certainly left his <' name unstained," unless the 
serious mistakes natural to a sanguine temperament such as 
his are to be counted as stains upon his name ; and if they 
are, where among the sons of men would you find many 
unstained names as noble as his with such a stain upon it ? He 
was not only sensitively honorable in motive, but, when he 
found what evil his sanguine temper had worked, he used his 
gigantic powers to repair it, and, as a result of these almost 
superhuman efforts, within fifteen years after Sir Walter's death, 
the debt was at last, through the value of the copyrights he 
had left behind him, finally extinguished, and the small estate 
of Abbotsford left cleared. Sir Walter's effort to found a new 
house was even less successful than the effort to endow it. 

The only direct descendant of Sir Walter Scott is now Mary 
Monica Hope-Scott, who was born on the 2d October, 1852, the 
grandchild of Mrs. Lockhart, and the great-grandchild of the 
founder of Abbotsford. 

in 

[A Tribute from Lockhart'] 

" I am drawing near the close of my career ; I am fast 
shuffling off the stage. I have been perhaps the most volu- 
minous author of the day ; and it is a comfort to me to think 
that I have tried to unsettle no man's faith, to corrupt no 
man's principle." 



INTRODUCTION xxxi 

In the social relations of life, where men are most effectually 
tried, no spot can be detected in him. He was a patient, 
dutiful, reverent son ; a generous, compassionate, tender hus- 
band ; an honest, careful, and most affectionate father. Never 
was a more virtuous or a happier fireside than his. The 
influence of his mighty genius shadowed it imperceptibly; 
his calm good sense, and his angelic sweetness of heart and 
temper, regulated and softened a strict but paternal discipHne. 
His children, as they grew up, understood by degrees the 
high privilege of their birth ; but the profoundest sense of his 
greatness never disturbed their confidence in his goodness. 

Perhaps the most touching evidence of the lasting ten- 
derness of his early domestic feelings was exhibited to his 
executors, when they opened his repositories in search of his 
testament, the evening after his burial. On lifting up his desk, 
we found arranged in careful order a series of little objects, 
which had obviously been so placed there that his eye might 
rest on them every morning before he began his tasks. These 
were the old-fashioned boxes that had garnished his mother's 
toilet, when he, a sickly child, slept in her dressing-room ; 
the silver taper-stand which the young advocate had bought 
for her with his first five-guinea fee ; a row of small packets 
inscribed with her hand, and containing the hair of those of 
her offspring that had died before her ; his father's snuff-box 
and etui-case ; and more things of the like sort, recalling the 
" old familiar faces." The same feeling was apparent in all 
the arrangement of his private apartment. Pictures of his 
father and mother were the only ones in his dressing-room. 
The clumsy antique cabinets that stood there, things of a very 
different class from the beautiful and costly productions in 
the public rooms below, had all belonged to the furniture of 
George's Square. Even his father's rickety washing-stand, 
with all its cramped appurtenances, though exceedingly unlike 



xxxii THE LADY OF THE LAKE 

what a man of his very scrupulous habits would have selected 
in these days, kept its ground. The whole place seemed fitted 
up like a Httle chapel of the Lares. 

Such a son and parent could hardly fail in any of the other 
^social relations. No man was a firmer or more indefatigable 
friend. I knew not that he ever lost one ; and a few, with 
whom, during the energetic middle stage of Hfe, from political 
differences or other accidental circumstances, he lived less 
familiarly, had all gathered round him, and renewed the full 
warmth of early affection in his later days. There was enough 
to dignify the connection in their eyes, but nothing to chill 
it on either side. The imagination that so completely mas- 
tered him, when he chose to give her the rein, was kept under 
most determined control when any of the positive obligations 
of active life came into question. A high and pure sense of 
duty presided over whatever he had to do as a citizen and 
a magistrate ; and, as a landlord, he considered his estate 
as an extension of his hearth. 

But his moral, political, and religious character has suffi- 
ciently impressed itself upon the great body of his writings. 
He is indeed one of the few great authors of modern Europe 
who stand acquitted of having written a line that ought to 
have embittered the bed of death. His works teach the 
practical lessons of morality and Christianity in the most 
captivating form — unobtrusively and unaffectedly. 

The race that grew up under the influence of that intellect 
can hardly be expected to appreciate fully their own obliga- 
tions to it : and yet, if we consider what were the tendencies 
of the minds and works that, but for his, must have been 
unrivaled in the power and opportunity to mold young 
ideas, we may picture to ourselves in some measure the mag- 
nitude of the debt we owe to a perpetual succession, through 
thirty years, of publications unapproached in charm, and all 



INTRODUCTION xxxiii 

instilling a high and healthy code ; a bracing, invigorating 
spirit; a contempt of mean passions, whether vindictive or 
voluptuous ; humane charity, as distinct from moral laxity 
as from unsympathizing austerity ; sagacity too deep for cyni- 
cism, and tenderness never degenerating into sentimentaHty : 
animated throughout in thought, opinion, feeling, and style, 
by one and the same pure, energetic principle — a pith and 
savor of manhood ; appealing to whatever is good and loyal 
in our natures, and rebuking whatever is low and selfish. 

I have no doubt that, the more details of his personal his- 
tory are revealed and studied, the more powerfully will that 
be found to inculcate the same great lessons with his works. 
Where else shall we be taught better how prosperity may be 
extended by beneficence, and adversity confronted by exer- 
tion? Where can we see the "follies of the wise" more 
strikingly rebuked, and a character more beautifully purified 
and exalted in the passage through affliction to death? 



THE LADY OF THE LAKE 
I 

THE HIGHLANDERS AND BORDERERS OF 
SCOTLAND — JAMES V 

[It is hoped that this brief outline, abridged from Scott's Tales of 
a Grandfather, may not only enable the reader to gain a better knowl- 
edge of the poem, but also awaken an interest in this important epoch 
of Henry VIII and Elizabeth of England, and James V and Mary 
Queen of Scots, and her son, James VI, under whom both kingdoms 
were united.] 

The Highlanders and Borderers of Scotland 

There were two great divisions of the country, namely, the 
Highlands and the Borders, which were so much wilder and 
more barbarous than the others, that they might be said to be 
altogether without law ; and, although they were nominally sub- 
jected to the King oi Scotland, yet when he desired to exe- 
cute any justice in either of these great districts, he could not 
do so otherwise than by marching there in person, at the head 
of a strong body of forces, and seizing upon the offenders 
and putting them to death with little or no form of trial. 
Such a rough course of justice, perhaps, made these disorderly 
countries quiet for a short time, but it rendered them still 
more averse to the royal government in their hearts, and dis- 
posed on the slightest occasion to break out, either into dis- 
orders amongst themselves or into open rebellion. I must give 
you some more particular account of these wild and uncivilized 
districts of Scotland, and of the particular sort of people who 



INTRODUCTION XXXV 

were their inhabitants, that you may know what I mean when 
I speak of Highlanders and Borderers. 

The Highlands of Scotland, so called from the rocky and 
mountainous character of the country, consist of a very large 
proportion of the northern parts of that kingdom. It was 
into these pathless wildernesses that the Romans drove the 
ancient inhabitants of Great Britain ; and it was from these 
that they afterwards sallied to invade and distress that part 
of Britain which the Romans had conquered, and in some 
degree civilized. The inhabitants of the Highlands spoke, 
and still speak, a language totally different from the Lowland 
Scots. That last language does not greatly differ from English, 
and the inhabitants of both countries easily understand each 
other, though neither of them comprehend the Gaelic, which is 
the language of the Highlanders. The dress of these moun- 
taineers was also different from that of the Lowlanders. They 
wore a plaid, or mantle of frieze, or of a striped stuff called tar- 
tan, one end of which being wrapped round the waist, formed 
a short petticoat, which descended to the knee, while the rest 
was folded round them like a sort of cloak. They had buskins 
made of rawhide ; and those who could get a bonnet had that 
covering for their heads, though many never wore one during 
their whole lives, but had only their own shaggy hair tied back 
by a leathern strap. They went always armed, carrying bows 
and arrows, large swords, which they wielded with both hands, 
called claymores, poleaxes, and daggers for close fight. For 
defense, they had a round wooden shield, or target, stuck full 
of nails ; and their great men had shirts of mail, not unlike to 
the flannel shirts now worn, only composed of links of iron 
instead of threads of worsted ; but the common men were so 
far from desiring armor that they sometimes threw their plaids 
away, and fought in their shirts, which they wore very long 
and large, after the Irish fashion. 



xxxvi THE LADY OF THE LAKE 

This part of the Scottish nation was divided into clans, that 
is, tribes. The persons composing each of these clans beHeved 
themselves all to be descended, at some distant period, from 
the same common ancestor, whose name they usually bore. 
Thus, one tribe was called MacDonald, which signifies the 
sons of Donald ; another, MacGregor, or the sons of Gregor ; 
MacNeil, the sons of Neil, and so on. Every one of these 
tribes had its own separate chief, or commander, whom they 
supposed to be the immediate representative of the great 
father of the tribe from whom they were all descended. 
To this chief they paid the most unlimited obedience, and 
willingly followed his commands in peace or war; not caring 
although, in doing so, they transgressed the laws of the King, 
or went into rebellion against the King himself. Each tribe 
lived in a valley, or district of the mountains, separated from 
the others ; and they often made war upon, and fought 
desperately with, each other. But with Lowlanders they were 
always at war. They differed from them in language, in dress, 
and in manners ; and they believed that the richer grounds 
of the low country had formerly belonged to their ancestors, 
and therefore they made incursions upon it, and plundered 
it without mercy. The Lowlanders, on the other hand, equal 
in courage and superior in discipline, gave many severe 
checks to the Highlanders ; and thus there was almost con- 
stant war or discord between them, though natives of the 
same country. 

Some of the most powerful of the Highland chiefs set them- 
selves up as independent sovereigns. Such were the famous 
Lords of the Isles, called MacDonald, to whom the island 
called the Hebrides, lying on the northwest of Scotland, might 
be said to belong in property. These petty sovereigns made 
alliances with the English in their own name. They took the 
part of Robert the Bruce in the wars, and joined him with their 



INTRODUCTION xxxvil 

forces. We shall find that, after his time, they gave great 
disturbance to Scotland. The Lords of Lorn, MacDougals 
by name, were also extremely powerful; and were able to 
give battle to Bruce, and to defeat him, and place him in the 
greatest jeopardy. He revenged himself afterwards by driving 
John of Lorn out of the country, and by giving great part of 
his possessions to his own nephew. Sir Colin Campbell, who 
became the first of the great family of Argyll, which afterwards 
enjoyed such power in the Highlands. 

Upon the whole, you can easily understand that these High- 
land clans, living among such high and inaccessible mountains, 
and paying obedience to no one save their own chiefs, should 
have been very instrumental in disturbing the tranquillity of 
the kingdom of Scotland. They had many virtues, being a 
kind, brave, and hospitable people, and reiiiarkable for their 
fidelity to their chiefs ; but they were restless, revengeful, fond 
of plunder, and delighting rather in war than in peace, in 
disorder than in repose. 

The Border counties were in a state little more favorable to 
a quiet or peaceful government. In some respects the inhab- 
itants of the counties of Scotland lying opposite to England 
greatly resembled the Highlanders, and particularly in their 
being, like them, divided into clans, and having chiefs whom 
they obeyed in preference to the King, or the officers whom 
he placed among them. How clanship came to prevail in the 
Highlands and Borders, and not in the provinces which sepa- 
rated them from each other, it is not easy to conjecture, but 
the fact was so. The Borders are not, indeed, so mountainous 
and inaccessible a country as the Highlands ; but they also are 
full of hills, especially on the more western part of the frontier, 
and were in early times covered with forests, and divided by 
small rivers and morasses into dales and valleys, where the 
different clans lived, making war sometimes on the English, 



xxxviii THE LADY OF THE LAKE 

sometimes on each other, and sometimes on the more civiHzed 
country which lay behind them. 

But though the Borderers resembled the Highlanders in their 
mode of government and habits of plundering, and, as it may 
be truly added, in their disobedience to the general govern- 
ment of Scotland, yet they differed in many particulars. The 
Highlanders fought always on foot; the Borderers were all 
horsemen. The Borderers spoke the same language with the 
Lowlanders, wore the same sort of dress, and carried the same 
arms. Being accustomed to fight against the English, they 
were also much better disciplined than the Highlanders. But 
in point of obedience to the Scottish government, they were 
not much different from the clans of the north. 

Military officers, called Wardens, were appointed along the 
Borders, to keep these unruly people in order; but as these 
wardens were generally themselves chiefs of clans, they did not 
do much to mend the evil. Robert the Bruce committed great 
part of the charge of the Borders to the good Lord James of 
Douglas, who fulfilled his trust with great fidelity. But the 
power which the family of Douglas thus acquired proved after- 
wards, in the hands of his successors, very dangerous to the 
crown of Scotland. 

The Highlanders continued to lead this same marauding 
kind of hfe, owning no allegiance to any power except that of 
their chief, until about the year 1745, when Charles Edward, 
the last of the Stuarts, made a most desperate attempt to 
regain the throne of his grandfather, James H. 

The Highland clans had remained loyal to the Stuarts dur- 
ing all their misfortunes, and when this brave young prince, 
trusting to their fidelity, landed almost alone upon their shores, 
they flocked to his standard in great numbers. 

They were successful in the earUer engagements, but finally, 
in the battle of Culloden, were utterly defeated, the bravest of 



INTRODUCTION xxxix 

the clans, together with their chiefs, being slain on the field. 
The government followed up its victory with unrelenting cruelty, 
slaughtering the fugitives, executing the prisoners, and laying 
waste the country, being determined to crush out the last spark 
of this power that had for so many centuries disturbed the 
peace of both kingdoms. 

Fine mihtary roads were built into those inaccessible glens 
and wild mountains, enabling the government to execute the 
laws throughout the realm. Severe laws, also, were passed, 
forbidding the wearing of the plaid, the national costume, and 
the bearing of arms. 

These measures were entirely successful in breaking down 
this patriarchal system ; and, although they seemed unneces- 
sarily harsh at the time, in the end they proved wise and 
beneficent. The Highlanders, no longer able to subsist on 
plundering the Lowlanders, were obliged to turn their atten- 
tion to some other means of gaining a living. Some emigrated 
to America, others enlisted in foreign armies, but the great 
majority settled down to an agricultural life. Mingling together 
in peaceful pursuits, the difference between Highlander and 
Lowlander soon disappeared, and they became one people, 
prosperous and happy. 

James V of Scotland — 1512-1542 

James V (James Fitz -James of the poem) was the son of 
James IV of Scotland, and Margaret, sister of Henry VHI 
of England. His father having lost his life on the battlefield 
of Flodden, the son became king when but a child of less 
than two years of age. For a while, his mother managed the 
affairs of the kingdom as regent; but, becoming unpopular, 
she not only lost the regency, but also the control of her son, 
who fell into the hands of the powerful family of the Douglases, 



xl THE LADY OF THE LAKE 

who, although governing in the name of the young King, never- 
theless kept him under such careful guard that the restraint 
became very irksome to him, and he determined to escape 
from their power. In two attempts by force he was unsuc- 
cessful ; but finally, on pretense of going hunting, he escaped 
from his captivity, and fled into the strong fortress of Stirling 
Castle, whose governor was friendly to him. Here he assem- 
bled around him the numerous nobility favorable to him, and 
threatened to declare a traitor any of the name of Douglas 
who should approach within twelve miles of his person, or who 
should attempt to meddle with the administration of govern- 
ment. He retained, ever after, this implacable resentment 
against the Douglases, not permitting one of the name to settle 
in Scotland while he lived. James was especially ungenerous 
to one Archibald Douglas of Kilspindie, the one mentioned in 
the poem who had been a favorite of the young King. He 
was noted for great strength, manly appearance, and skill in 
all kinds of exercises. When an old man, becoming tired of 
his exile in England, he resolved to try the King's mercy, 
thinking that, as he had not personally offended James, he 
might find favor on account of their old intimacy. He there- 
fore threw himself in the King's way one day as he returned 
from hunting in the Park at Stirling. Although it was several 
years since James had seen him, he knew him at a great dis- 
tance by his firm and stately step. When they met he showed 
no sign of recognizing his old servant. Douglas turned, hoping 
still to obtain a glance of favorable recollection, and ran along 
by the King's side ; and, although James trotted his horse hard, 
and Douglas wore a heavy shirt of mail, yet he reached the 
castle gate as soon as the King. James passed by him, with- 
out the slightest sign of recognition, and entered the castle. 
Douglas, exhausted, sat down at the gate and asked for a cup 
of wine ; but no domestic dared to ofler it. The King, 



INTRODUCTION xli 

however, blamed this discourtesy in his servants, saying that, 
but for his oath, he would have received Archibald into his 
service. Yet he sent his command for him to retire to France, 
where the old man soon died of a broken heart. 

Freed from the stern control of the Douglas family, James V 
now began to exercise the government in person, and displayed 
most of the qualities of a wise and good prince. He was hand- 
some in his person, and resembled his father in the fondness 
for military exercises and the spirit of chivalrous honor which 
James IV loved to display. He also inherited his father's love 
of justice, and his desire to estabhsh and enforce wise and 
equal laws which should protect the weak against the oppres- 
sion of the great. It was easy enough to make laws, but to 
put them in vigorous exercise was of much greater difficulty ; 
and, in his attempt to accomplish this laudable purpose, James 
often incurred the ill-will of the more powerful nobles. He 
was a well-educated and accompHshed man, and, like his 
ancestor, James I, was a poet and musician. He had, how- 
ever, his defects. He avoided his father's failing of profusion, 
having no hoarded treasures to employ on pomp and show; 
but he rather fell into the opposite fault, being of a temper 
too parsimonious ; and though he loved state and display he 
endeavored to gratify that taste as economically as possible, so 
that he has been censured as rather close and covetous. He 
was also, though the foibles seem inconsistent, fond of pleasure, 
and disposed to too much indulgence. It must be added that, 
when provoked, he was unrelenting even to cruelty ; for which 
he had some apology, considering the ferocity of the subjects 
over whom he reigned. But on the whole James V was an 
amiable man and a good sovereign. 

His first care was to bring the Borders of Scotland to some 
degree of order. As before stated, these were inhabited by 
tribes of men, forming each a different clan, as they were 



xlii THE LADY OF THE LAKE 

called, and obeying no orders save those which were given by 
their chiefe These chiefs were supposed to represent the first 
founder of the name or family. The attachment of the clans- 
men to the chief was very great ; indeed, they paid respect to 
no one else. In this the Borderers agreed with the Highlanders, 
as also in their love of plunder and neglect of the general laws 
of the country. But the Border men wore no tartan dress, and 
served almost always on horseback, whereas the Highlanders 
acted always on foot. The Borderers spoke the Scottish lan- 
guage, and not the Gaelic tongue used by the mountaineers. 

The situation of these clans on the frontiers exposed them 
to constant war ; so that they thought of nothing else but of 
collecting bands of their followers together, and making incur- 
sions, without much distinction, on the English, on the Low- 
land (or inland) Scots, or upon each other. They paid little 
respect either to times of truce or treaties of peace, but exer- 
cised their depredations without regard to either, and often 
occasioned wars betwixt England and Scotland which would 
not otherwise have taken place. 

James's first step was to secure the persons of the principal 
chieftains by whom these disorders were privately encouraged, 
and who might have opposed his purposes, and imprison them 
in separate fortresses. 

He then assembled an army, in which warlike purposes 
were united with those of sylvan sport ; for he ordered all the 
gentlemen in the wild districts which he intended to visit to 
bring in their best dogs, as if his only purpose had been to 
hunt the deer in those desolate regions. This was intended 
to prevent the Borderers from taking the alarm, in which case 
they would have retreated into their mountains and fastnesses, 
from whence it would have been difficult to dislodge them. 

These men had indeed no distinct idea of the offenses 
which they had committed, and consequently no apprehension 



INTRODUCTION xliii 

of the King's displeasure against them. The laws had been 
so long silent in that remote and disorderly country, that the 
outrages which were practiced by the strong against the weak 
seemed to the perpetrators the natural course of society, and 
to present nothing that was worthy of punishment. Thus the 
King suddenly approached the castles of these great lords and 
barons while they were preparing a great entertainment to 
welcome him, and caused them to be seized and executed. 

There is reason to censure the extent to which James car- 
ried his severity, as being to a certain degree impolitic and 
beyond doubt cruel and excessive. 

In the hke manner James proceeded against the Highland 
chiefs, and by executions, forfeitures, and other severe meas- 
ures he brought the Northern mountaineers, as he had already 
done those of the South, into comparative subjection. 

Such were the effects of the terror struck by these general 
executions that James was said to have made " the rush bush 
keep the cow" ; that is to say, that, even in this lawless part 
of the country, men dared no longer make free with property, 
and cattle might remain on their pastures unwatched. James 
was also enabled to draw profit from the lands which the 
crown possessed near the Borders, and is said to have had ten 
thousand sheep at one time grazing in Ettrick forest under 
the keeping of one Andrew Bell, who gave the King as good 
an account of the flock as if they had been grazing in the 
bounds of Fife, then the most civilized part of Scotland. 

James V had a custom of going about the country disguised 
as a private person in order that he might hear complaints 
which might not otherwise reach his ears, and, perhaps, that 
he might enjoy amusement which he could not have partaken 
of in his avowed royal character. 

He was also very fond of hunting, and when he pursued that 
amusement in the Highlands he used to wear the peculiar 



xliv THE LADY OF THE LAKE 

dress of that country, having a long and wide Highland shirt, 
and a jacket of tartan velvet, with plaid hose, and everything 
else corresponding. 

The reign of James V was not alone distinguished by his 
personal adventures and pastimes, but is honorably remem- 
bered on account of wise laws made for the government of his 
people, and for restraining the crimes and violence which 
were frequently practiced among them ; especially those of 
assassination, burning of houses, and driving^ of cattle, the 
usual and ready means by which powerful chiefs avenged 
themselves on their feudal enemies. 

Had not James become involved in a war with Henry VHI 
of England, he might have been as fortunate a prince as his 
many good qualities deserved ; but, the war going against 
him, in despair and desolation he shut himself up in his 
palace, refusing to Hsten to consolation. A burning fever, the 
consequence of his grief and shame, seized on the unfortu- 
nate monarch. When they brought him tidings that his wife 
had given birth to a daughter, who afterwards became the 
briUiant, but most unfortunate, Mary Queen of Scots, he only 
repUed, "Is it so?" reflecting on the alliance which had 
placed the Stuart family on the throne ; " then God's will be 
done. It came with a lass, and it will go with a lass." With 
these words, presaging the extinction of his house, he made a 
signal of adieu to his courtiers, spoke Httle more, but turned 
his face to the wall and, when scarcely thirty-one years old, in 
the very prime of life, he died of the most melancholy of all 
diseases, a broken heart. 

1 Driving, here, means stealing. 



II 

SCOTT'S INTRODUCTION 

After the success of Marmion^ I felt inclined to exclaim 
with Ulysses in the Odysseys: — 

OSros yAv dr] dedXos ddaros iKTeT^Xecrrai. 

'Nvv adre aKoirbv SXKov. Odys. xxii, 5. 

One venturous game my hand has won to-day — 
Another, gallants, yet remains to play. 

The ancient manners, the habits and customs of the aborigi- 
nal race by whom the Highlands of Scotland were inhabited, 
had always appeared to me peculiarly adapted to poetry. 
The change in their manners, too, had taken place almost 
within my own time, or at least I had learned many particu- 
lars concerning the ancient state of the Highlands from the 
old men of the last generation. I had always thought the old 
Scottish Gael highly adapted for poetical composition. The 
feuds and political dissensions which, half a century earlier, 
would have rendered the richer and wealthier part of the king- 
dom indisposed to countenance a poem the scene of which 
was laid in the Highlands, were now sunk in the generous 
^compassion which the English more than any other nation 
feel for the misfortunes of an honorable foe. The poems of 
Ossian had by their popularity sufficiently shown that if writ- 
ings on Highland subjects were qualified to interest the reader, 
mere national prejudices were, in the present day, very unlikely 
to interfere with their success. 

I had also read a great deal, seen much, and heard more, 
of that romantic country where I was in the habit of spending 
some time every autumn ; and the scenery of Loch Katrine 

xlv 



xlvi THE LAQY OF THE LAKE 

•was connected with the recollection of many a dear friend and 
merry expedition of former days. This poem, the action of 
which lay among scenes so beautiful and so deeply imprinted 
on my recollections, was a labor of love, and it was no less so 
to recall the manners and incidents introduced. The frequent 
custom of James IV, and particularly of James V, to walk 
through the kingdom in disguise, afforded me the hint of an 
incident which never fails to be interesting if managed with 
the slightest address or dexterity. 

I may now confess, however, that the employment, 'though 
attended with great pleasure, was not without its doubts and 
anxieties. A lady, to whom I was nearly related, and with 
whom I lived, during her whole life, on the most brotherly 
terms of affection, was residing with me at the time when the 
work was in progress, and used to ask me what I could pos- 
sibly do to rise so early in the morning (that happening to be 
the most convenient to me for composition). At last I told 
her the subject of my meditations ; and I can never forget 
the anxiety and affection expressed in her reply. " Do not be 
so rash," she said, " my dearest cousin. You are already popu- 
lar, — more so, perhaps, than you yourself will beheve, or than 
even I, or other partial friends, can fairly allow to your merit. • 
You stand high, — do not rashly attempt to climb higher, and 
incur the risk of a fall ; for, depend upon it, a favorite will not 
be permitted even to stumble with impunity." I repHed to 
this affectionate expostulation in the words of Montrose, — 

" He either fears his fate too much, 
Or his deserts are small, 
Who dares not put it to the touch 
To gain or lose it all. 

" If I fail," I said, for the dialogue is strong in my recollec- 
tion, " it is a sign that I ought never to have succeeded, and I 



INTRODUCTION xlvii 

will write prose for life ; you shall see no change in my temper, 
nor will I eat a single meal the worse. But if I succeed, — 

" Up with the bonnie blue bonnet, 
The dirk, and the feather, and a' ! " 

Afterwards I showed my affectionate and anxious critic the 
first canto of the poem,* which reconciled her to my impru- 
dence. Nevertheless, though I answered thus confidently, 
with the obstinacy often said to be proper to those who bear 
my surname, I acknowledge that my confidence was consider- 
ably shaken by the warning of her excellent taste and unbiased 
friendship. Nor was I much comforted by her retraction of 
the unfavorable judgment, when I recollected how likely a 
natural partiality was to effect that change of opinion. In 
such cases affection rises like a light on the canvas, improves 
any favorable tints which it formerly exhibited, and throws its 
defects into the shade. 

I remember that about the same time a friend started in to 
" heeze up my hope," Hke the '' sportsman with -his cutty gun," 
in the old song. He was bred a farmer, but a man of power- 
ful understanding, natural good taste, and warm poetical feel- 
ing, perfectly competent to supply the wants of an imperfect 
or irregular education. He was a passionate admirer of field 
sports, which we often pursued together. 

As this friend happened to dine with me at Ashestiel one 
day, I took the opportunity of reading to him the first canto 
of The Lady of the Lake, in order to ascertain the effect the 
poem was likely to produce upon a person who was but too 
favorable a representative of readers at large. It is of course 
to be supposed that I determined rather to guide my opinion 
by what my friend might appear to feel, than by what he might 
think fit to say. His reception of my recitation, or prelection, 
was rather singular. He placed his hand across his brow, and 



xlviii THE LADY OF THE LAKE 

listened with great attention, through the whole account of the 
stag hunt, till the dogs threw themselves into the lake to fol- 
low their master, who embarks with Ellen Douglas. He then 
started up with a sudden exclamation, struck his hand on the 
table, and declared, in a voice of censure calculated for the 
occasion, that the dogs must have been totally ruined by being 
permitted to take the water after such a severe chase. I own 
I was much encouraged by the species of reverie which had 
possessed so zealous a follower of the sports of the ancient 
Nimrod, who had been completely surprised out of all doubts 
of the reality of the tale. Another of his remarks gave me 
less pleasure. He detected the identity of the king with the 
wandering knight, Fitz-James, when he winds his bugle to 
summon his attendants. . . . 

This discovery, as Mr. Pepys says of the rent in his camlet 
cloak, was but a trifle, yet it troubled me ; and I was at a good 
deal of pains to efface any marks by which I thought my secret 
could be traced before the conclusion, when I relied on it with 
the same hope -of producing effect, with which the Irish post- 
boy is said to reserve a " trot for the avenue." 

I took uncommon pains to verify the accuracy of the local 
circumstances of this story. I recollect, in particular, that to 
ascertain whether I was telling a probable tale I went into 
Perthshire, to see whether King James could actually have 
ridden from the Banks to Loch Vennachar to Stirling Castle 
within the time supposed in the poem, and had the pleasure 
to satisfy myself that it was quite practicable. 

After a considerable delay The Lady of the Lake appeared 
in June, 1810 ; and its success was certainly so extraordinary as 
to induce me for the moment to conclude that I had at last 
fixed a nail in the proverbially inconstant wheel of Fortune, 
whose stability in behalf of an individual who had so boldly 
courted her favors for three successive times had not as yet 



INTRODUCTION xlix 

been shaken. I had attained, perhaps, that degree of repu- 
tation at which prudence, or certainly timidity, would have 
made a halt and discontinued efforts by which I was far more 
likely to diminish my fame than to increase it. But, as the 
celebrated John Wilkes is said to have explained to his late 
Majesty, that he himself, amid his full tide of popularity, was 
never a Wilkite, so I can, with honest truth, exculpate myself 
from having been at any time a partisan of my own poetry, 
even when it was in the highest fashion with the million. It 
must not be supposed that I was either so ungrateful or so 
superabundantly candid as to despise or scorn the value of 
those whose voice had elevated me so much higher than my 
own opinion told me I deserved. I felt, on the contrary, the 
more grateful to the public, as receiving that from partiality 
to me, which I could not have claimed from merit ; and I 
endeavored to deserve the partiaHty by continuing such 
exertions as I was capable of for their amusement. 

It may be that I did not, in this continued course of scrib- 
bling, consult either the interest of the public or my own. But 
the former had effectual means of defending themselves, and 
could, by their coldness, sufficiently check any approach to 
intrusion ; and for myself, I had now for several years dedi- 
cated my hours so much to literary labor that I should have 
felt difficulty in employing myself otherwise; and so, like 
Dogberry, I generously bestowed all my tediousness on the 
pubHc, comforting myself with the reflection that, if posterity 
should think me undeserving of the favor with which I was 
regarded by my contemporaries, " they could not but say I 
had the crown," and had enjoyed for a time that popularity 
which is so much coveted. 

I conceived, however, that I held the distinguished situa- 
tion I had obtained, however unworthily, rather like the cham- 
pion of pugilism, on the condition of being always ready to 



1 THE LADY OF THE LAKE 

show proofs of my skill, than in the manner of the cham- 
pion of chivalry, who performs his duties only on rare and 
solemn occasions. I was in any case conscious that I could 
not long hold a situation which the caprice rather than 
the judgment of the public had bestowed upon me, and 
preferred being deprived of my precedence by some more 
worthy rival, to sinking into contempt for my indolence, and 
losing my reputation by what Scottish lawyers call the nega- 
tive prescription. Accordingly, those who choose to look at 
the Introduction to Rokeby will be able to trace the steps 
by which I declined as a poet to figure as a novelist ; as the 
ballad says, '' Queen Eleanor sunk at Charing Cross to rise 
again at Queenhithe." 

It only remains for me to say that, during my short preemi- 
nence of popularity, I faithfully observed the rules of modera- 
tion which I had resolved to follow before I began my course 
as a man of letters. If a man is determined to make a noise 
in the world, he is sure to encounter abuse and ridicule, as he 
who gallops furiously through a village must reckon on being 
followed by the curs in full cry. Experienced persons know 
that in stretching to flog the latter, the rider is very apt to 
catch a bad fall ; nor is an attempt to chastise a malignant 
critic attended with less danger to the author. On this prin- 
ciple, I let parody, burlesque, and squibs find their own level ; 
and while the latter hissed most fiercely, I was cautious never 
to catch them up, as schoolboys do, to throw them back against 
the naughty boy who fired them off, wisely remembering that 
they are in such cases apt to explode in the handhng. Let 
me add that my reign (since Byron has so called it) was 
marked by some instances of good nature as well as patience. 
I never refused a literary person of merit such services in 
smoothing his way to the public as were in my power; and 
I had the advantage — rather an uncommon one with our 



INTRODUCTION li 

irritable race — to enjoy general favor without incurring per- 
manent ill-will, so far as is known to me, among any of my 
contemporaries. 

Abbotsford, April, 1830. 

Ill 

THE POEM 

A glance at the table which concludes the Introduction 
will indicate the general relation of The Lady of the Lake to 
Scott's entire literary product. The further experiments in 
metrical romance which he made during the next two or three 
years appear to have convinced him that his vein of poetic 
expression, of which he always thought modestly, was worked 
out. With the beginning of the publication of the Waverley 
novels in 18 14 he finds his true field, and from this time on 
his attempts at poetry are few and comparatively unimportant. 
Nothing need be said here of the famous prose romances 
which, following each other with extraordinary rapidity, laid 
the foundation for a more permanent fame than he could have 
hoped for from his efforts in verse. 

It should not be forgotten, however, that his verse, while it 
is not of the very highest type, is excellent in its kind, and 
still worth reading for its own sake as well as for the sake of 
the great man who wrote it. The Lay of the Last Minstrel^ 
Marmion, and The Lady of the Lake must still stand as the 
best as well as the best-known examples in EngHsh of the 
metrical romance, an epical form of verse midway between 
the "grand" or heroic epic and the ballad. Scott's minute 
and sympathetic acquaintance with the ancient Scottish bal- 
lads made it possible for him to produce not only numerous 
fine ballads of his own, but to incarnate the ballad spirit in 



lii THE LADY OF THE LAKE 

the fuller form, which is more effective even than the ballad to 
the reader of poetry as contrasted with the hstener to songs. 
The poet himself considered the chief merit of The Lay of the 
Last Minstrel to consist in its style, of Marmion in its descrip- 
tions, and of The Lady of the Lake in its incidents. For a 
more detailed comparison with the earlier poems we cannot 
do better than quote the judgment of the most influential 
critic among Scott's contemporaries, Jeffrey, of the Edin- 
burgh Revieiv. " It is," he said, " more polished in diction and 
more regular in its versification ; the story is constructed with 
infinitely more skill and address ; there is a greater proportion 
of pleasing and tender passages, with much less antiquarian 
detail ; and, upon the whole, a larger variety of characters, 
more artfully and judicially contrasted. There is nothing so 
fine, perhaps, as the battle in Marmion, or so picturesque as 
some of the scattered sketches in the Lay ; but there is a rich- 
ness and a spirit in the whole piece which does not pervade 
either of those poems, — a profusion of incident and a shifting 
brilliancy of coloring that remind us of the witchery of Ariosto, 
and a constant elasticity and occasional energy which seem to 
belong more particularly to the author now before us." 

Scott had, without possessing the loftiest quality of poetic 
imagination, produced a poem so vigorous, so picturesque, 
above all so expressive of the border spirit which had entered 
into his own being, that he could hardly hope to equal it later. 
It is good, on the whole, that he did not long persist in the 
attempt. Scott's novels are greater than his metrical romances. 
But it would be idle to ignore the fact that his exercises in 
verse writing did much toward preparing him for his great prose 
stories, or to depreciate the value which his three famous 
narrative poems possess in themselves. 



TABLE OF SCOTT'S LIFE AND WORKS 

177 1 Born August 15. 

1778 Entered Edinburgh High School. 

1785 Entered University of Edinburgh. 

1792 Admitted to the Scottish Bar. 

1797 Married. 

1799 Appointed Sheriff of Selkirkshire. 

1 802- 1 80 3 Border Minstrelsy. 

1805 The Lay of the Last Minstrel. 

1806 Appointed " Clerk of Session." 
1808 Marmion. 

18 10 The Lady of the Lake. 

181 1 Bought Abbotsford. The Vision of Don Roderick. 

18 1 2 Rokeby. Took possession of Abbotsford. 

181 3 The Bride of Triermain. 

18 1 4 Waverley. The Border Antiquities. 

18 1 5 The Lord of the Isles. Guy Ma?mering. The Field of 

Waterloo. 

18 16 The Antiquary. The Black Dwarf Old Mortality. 

1 8 1 7 Harold the Dauntless. 

1 8 1 8 Rob Roy . The Heart of Midlothian. 

1 8 1 9 The Bride of Lainmennoor. ^ The Legend of Montrose. 

1820 Ivanhoe. The Mojiastery. The Abbot. 

1 82 1 Kenilworth. 

\Zii The Pirate. The Fortunes of Nigel. P ever il of the Peak. 

1823 Quentin Durward. 

1824 St. RonaJi^s Well. Redgauntlet. 

1825 Ballantyne & Co. became bankrupt. The Betrothed. The 

Talisman. Tales of the Crusaders. 

1826 Provincial Antiquities of Scotland. Woodstock. 

liii 



liv TABLE OF SCOTT'S LIFE AND WORKS 

1827 Life of Napoleon Buonaparte. Chj'onicles of the Canon- 

gate, First Series. (^The Highland Widow. The Two 
Drovers. The Surgeon's Daughter^ 

1828 Aliscellafieous Prose Works (six vols.'). Tales of a Grand- 

father, First Series. Chronicles of the Canongate, Sec- 
ond Series. {Saint Valentine'' s Day ; or, The Fair Maid 
of Perth.) 

1829 Tales of a Grandfather, ^QCondS^nts. AnneofGeierstein. 

1830 Tales of a Grandfather, Third Series. The Doom of 

Devoirgoil : a melodrama. 

1 83 1 Tales of a Grandfather, Fourth Series. Count Robert of 

Paris. Castle Dangerous. 

1832 Died September 21. 



ARGUMENT 

The scene of the following poem is laid chiefly in the vicinity 
of Loch Katrine, in the Western Highlands of Perthshire. The 
time of action includes six days, and the transactions of each 
day occupy a canto. 

This poem was first published in 1810. 



THE LADY OF THE LAKE 

Canto First 
the chase 

Harp of the North ! that moldering long hast hung 

On the witch-elm that shades Saint Fillan's spring, 
And down the fitful breeze thy numbers flung, 

Till envious ivy did around thee cling, 
Muffling with verdant ringlet every string, — 5 

O Minstrel Harp, still must thine accents sleep ? 
Mid rustling leaves and fountains murmuring. 

Still must thy sweeter sounds their silence keep. 
Nor bid a warrior smile, nor teach a maid to weep ? 

1. Harp of the North ! An invocation to ancient Scottish minstrelsy. 
The harp was formerly the national musical instrument. 

2. Witch-elm. The broad-leaved elm. Twigs cut from it were used 
as riding whips for good luck; also for divining rods. — Saint Fillan, 
A Scotch saint of some reputation. There are in Perthshire several 
wells and springs dedicated to St. Fillan, which are still places of pil- 
grimage and offerings, even among the Protestants. They are held 
powerful in cases of madness. — Scott. (See Martnion, T, 509.) 

3. Numbers. Lines or verses of poetry. 

6. Minstrel. The minstrels, as the wandering singers and musicians 
of the Middle Ages were called, were always welcomed wherever they 
went. They sang songs recounting the valiant deeds of their enter- 
tainers and their ancestors. — Stevens and Morris. 



4 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto i 

Not thus, in ancient days of Caledon, lo 

Was thy voice mute amid the festal crowd, 
When lay of hopeless love, or glory won, 

Aroused the fearful or subdued the proud. 
At each according pause was heard aloud 

Thine ardent symphony sublime and high ! ^5 

Fair dames and crested chiefs attention bowed ; 

For still the burden of thy minstrelsy 
Was Knighthood's dauntless deed, and Beauty's match- 
less eye. 

O, wake once more ! how rude soe'er the hand 

That ventures o'er thy magic maze to stray; 20 

O, wake once more ! though scarce my skill command 

Some feeble echoing of thine earlier lay: 
Though harsh and faint, and soon to die away. 

And all unworthy of thy nobler strain. 
Yet if one heart throb higher at its sway, 25 

The wizard note has not been touched in vain. 
Then silent be no more ! Enchantress, wake again ! 



The stag at eve had drunk his fill, 
Where danced the moon on Monan's rill. 



10. Caledon. For Caledonia, the ancient name of Scotland. 

14. According pause. In music, that which suitably fills the intervals. 

15. Ardent symphony. Stirring music with which the minstrel filled 
up the pauses of his lay. — Stevens and Morris. 

29. Monan. A Scotch martyr of the fourth century. 



CANTO I THE CHASE 5 

And deep his midnight lair had made 3° 

In lone Glenartney's hazel shade ; 

But when the sun his beacon red 

Had kindled on Benvoirlich's head, 

The deep-mouthed bloodhound's heavy bay 

Resounded up the rocky way, 35 

And faint, from farther distance borne, 

Were heard the clanging hoof and horn. 



II 

As Chief, who hears his warder call, 

" To arms ! the foemen storm the wall," 

The antlered monarch of the waste 40 

Sprung from his heathery couch in haste. 

But-^ere his fleet career he took, 

The dewdrops from his flanks he shook ; 

Like crested leader proud and high 

Tossed his beamed frontlet to the sky ; 45 

A moment gazed adown the dale, 

A moment snuffed the tainted gale, 

A moment listened to the cry. 

That thickened as the chase drew nigh ; 

Then, as the headmost foes appeared, 50 

With one brave bound the copse he cleared. 



31. Glenartney. A valley through which a small stream called the 
Artney flows. 

33. Benvoirlich. A mountain north of Glenartney. Ben means 
" mountain." (See map.) 

45. Beamed frontlet. The forehead of a stag, with full-grown antlers 
or horns, 



THE LADY OF THE LAKE 



And, stretching forward free and far, 
Sought the wild heaths of Uam-Var. 



HI 

Yelled on the view the opening pack ; 

Rock, glen, and cavern paid them back; 55 

To many a mingled sound at once 

The awakened mountain gave response. 

A hundred dogs bayed deep and strong. 

Clattered a hundred steeds along. 

Their peal the merry horns rung out, 60 

A hundred voices joined the shout; 

With hark and whoop and wild halloo, 

No rest Benvoirlich's echoes knew. 

Far from the tumult fled the roe, 

Close in her covert cowered the doe, 65 

The falcon, from her cairn on high. 

Cast on the rout a wondering eye. 

Till far beyond her piercing ken 

The hurricane had swept the glen. 

53. Uam-Var. Ua-var, as the name is pronounced, or more properly 
Uaighnior, is a mountain to the northeast of the village of Callander in 
Menteith, deriving its name, which signifies the "great den" or "cavern," 
from a sort of retreat among the rocks on the south side, said, by tradition, 
to have been the abode of a giant. In latter times it was the refuge of 
robbers and banditti, who have been only extirpated within these forty 
or fifty years. Strictly speaking, this stronghold is not a cave, as the 
name would imply, but a sort of small enclosure or recess, surrounded 
with large rocks, and open above head. — Scott. 

54. Opening pack. A hunting term, alluding to the hounds barking 
at sight of the game. 

68. Ken. Sight. 



) I THE CHASE 7 

Faint, and more faint, its failing din 70 

Returned from cavern, cliff, and linn, 
And silence settled, wide and still. 
On the lone wood and mighty hill. 

IV 

Less loud the sounds of sylvan war 

Disturbed the heights of Uam-Var, 75 

And roused the cavern where, 't is told, 

A giant made his den of old ; 

For ere that steep ascent was won, 

High in his pathway hung the sun. 

And many a gallant, stayed perforce, 80 

Was fain to breathe his faltering horse. 

And of the trackers of the deer. 

Scarce half the lessening pack was near ; 

So shrewdly on the mountain-side 

Had the bold burst their mettle tried, 85 



The noble stag was pausing now 

Upon the mountain's southern brow. 

Where broad extended, far beneath, 

The varied realms of fair Menteith. 

With anxious eye he wandered o'er 90 

Mountain and meadow, moss and moor, 

71. Linn. Cataract; pool. 

84. Shrewdly. Severely. 

89. Menteith. A district watered by the Teith. 



8 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto i 

And pondered refuge from his toil 

By far Lochard or Abcrfoylc. 

But nearer was the copsewood gray 

That waved and wept on Loch Achray. 95 

And mingled with the pine-trees blue 

On the bold cliffs of Benvenue. 

Fresh vigor with the hope returned, 

With flying foot the heath he spurned, 

Held westward with unwearied race, 100 

And left behind the panting chase. 

VI 

'T were long to tell what steeds gave o'er, 

As swept the hunt through Cambusmore ; 

What reins were tightened in despair. 

When rose Benlcdi's ridge in air ; 105 

Who flagged upon Bochastle's heath, 

Who shunned to stem the flooded Teith, — 

93. Lochard. A small lake near the village of Aberfoyle. 

95. Loch Achray. "The Lake of the Level Field." A small lake 
at the foot of Benvenue. — 97. Benvenue. "Center Mountain," being 
midway between Ben Lomond and Ben Ledi. (See map.) 

99. Heath. A low shrub, very abundant on the hills and mountains 
of Scotland. Its foliage gives to the landscape a very soft olive tinge; 
its blossoms, a purplish hue. 

103. Cambusmore. An estate near Callander. 

105. Beuledi. A mountain near Callander. The name signifies 
" Mountain of God." 

106. Bochastle's heath. A flat plain between the east end of Loch 
Vennachar and Callander. — Taylor. 

107. The flooded Teith. The Teith, receiving the waters of Lochs 
Lubnaig, Voil, Vennachar, Achray, and Katrine, was liable to overflow 
its banks in rainy seasons, 



D I THE CHASE 

For twice that day, from shore to shore, 
The gallant stag swam stoutly o'er. 
Few were the stragglers, following far, 
That reached the lake of Vennachar ; 
And when the Brigg of Turk was won. 
The headmost horseman rode alone. 



vn 

Alone, but with unbated zeal. 

That horseman plied the scourge and steel ; 115 

For, jaded now, and spent with toil, 

Embossed with foam, and dark with soil. 

While every gasp with sobs he drew. 

The laboring stag strained full in view. 

Two dogs of black Saint Hubert's breed, 120 

Unmatched for courage, breath, and speed. 

Fast on his flying traces came. 

And all but won that desperate game ; 

For, scarce a spear's length from his haunch. 

Vindictive toiled the bloodhounds stanch ; 125 



111. Vennachar. " Lake of the Fair Valley," one of the three lakes 
around which the scenery of the poem lies. 

112. Brigg of Turk. An old stone bridge over the Turk, a small 
stream in Glenfinlas valley. 

1 17. Embossed. Hunted until the foam from the mouth covered the 
stag like raised figures in ornamental work. 

120. Saint Hubert. The hounds which are called St. Hubert's are 
found of various colors, but are commonly all black. The abbots of 
St. Hubert have always kept some of this race of hounds in remem- 
brance of their patron saint, who was a hunter. 



lO THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto i 

Nor nearer might the dogs attain, 

Nor farther might the quarry strain. 

Thus up the margin of the lake, 

Between the precipice and brake. 

O'er stock and rock their race they take. 130 

VIII 

The Hunter marked that mountain high. 

The lone lake's western boundary. 

And deemed the stag must turn to bay. 

Where that huge rampart barred the way ; 

Already glorying in the prize, 135 

Measured his antlers with his eyes ; 

For the death-wound and death-halloo 

Mustered his breath, his whinyard drew : — 

But thundering as he came prepared. 

With ready arm and weapon bared, 140 

The wily quarry shunned the shock. 

And turned him from the opposing rock ; 

Then, dashing down a darksome glen. 

Soon lost to hound and Hunter's ken, 

127. Quarry. The hunted animal. 

129. Brake. Coarse ferns; bushes. 

1 30. Stock. Log or stump. 

137. For the death-wound, etc. When the stag turned to bay, the 
ancient hunter had the perilous task of going in upon and killing or 
disabling the desperate animal. At certain times of the year this was 
held particularly dangerous, a wound received from a stag's horn being 
then deemed poisonous, and more dangerous than one from the tusks 
of a boar. — Scott. — Death-halloo. The shout when the huntsman had 
given the death stroke to the stag. 

138. Whinyard. A sword or hanger. 



CANTO I THE CHASE II 

In the deep Trosachs' wildest nook 145 

His solitary refuge took. 

There, while close couched the thicket shed 

Cold dews and wild flowers on- his head, 

He heard the baffled dogs in vain 

Rave through the hollow pass amain, 150 

Chiding the rocks that yelled again. 

IX 

Close on the hounds the Hunter came, 

To cheer them on the vanished game ; 

But, stumbling in the rugged dell. 

The gallant horse exhausted fell. 155 

The impatient rider strove in vain 

To rouse him with the spur and rein. 

For the good steed, his labors o'er. 

Stretched his stiff limbs, to rise no more ; 

145. Trosachs. The name " Trosachs," or "bristled territory," is gen- 
erally applied to the whole country about Loch Katrine, but, strictly 
speaking, belongs only to the region between Lochs Katrine and 
Achray. A fine turnpike, shaded by overhanging trees and abrupt 
mountain cliffs, winds through this beautiful wild valley. It is the more 
enjoyable because it is so rare in Scotland to see anything like a native 
forest. The trees are mostly set out when very small, and so thickly 
and irregularly as to resemble a natural growth. They are cultivated 
not so much for the timber as a shelter for game. The mountains of 
Scotland for the most part are treeless. With the exception of a few 
of the highest peaks which are barren, they are covered to the very tops 
with heather and grass kept green by the frequent rains. Not only are 
these beautiful mountains with the thousands of white sheep moving to 
and fro over their sides pleasant to look upon, but they form a great 
source of wealth to the people, as is well known by the quantity and 
excellence of the Scotch woolens. 



12 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto i 

Then, touched with pity and remorse, i6o 

He sorrowed o'er the expiring horse. 

" I Httle thought, when first thy rein 

I slacked upon the banks of Seine, 

That Highland eagle e'er should feed 

On thy fleet limbs, my matchless steed ! 165 

Woe worth the chase, woe worth the day, 

That costs thy life, my gallant gray! " 



X 

Then through the dell his horn resounds. 

From vain pursuit to call the hounds. 

Back limped, with slow and crippled pace, 170 

The sulky leaders of the chase ; 

Close to their master's side they pressed. 

With drooping tail and humbled crest ; 

But still the dingle's hollow throat 

Prolonged the swelling bugle-note. 175 

The owlets started from their dream, 

The eagles answered with their scream, 

Round and around the sounds were cast, 

Till echo seemed an answering blast; 

And on the Hunter hied his way, 180 

To join some comrades of the day. 

Yet often paused, so strange the road. 

So wondrous were the scenes it showed. 



166. Woe worth the chase. Woe be to the chase. Worth used in 
the sense of be, imperative. 



THE CHASE 



13 



XI 

The western waves of ebbing day 

Rolled o'er the glen their level way; 185 

Each purple peak, each flinty spire, 

Was bathed in floods of living fire. 

But not a setting beam could glow 

Within the dark ravines below. 

Where twined the path in shadow hid, 190 

Round many a rocky pyramid, 

Shooting abruptly from the dell 

Its thunder- splintered pinnacle; 

Round many an insulated mass. 

The native bulwarks of the pass, 195 

Huge as the tower which builders vain 

Presumptuous piled on Shinar's plain. 

The rocky summits, split and rent. 

Formed turret, dome, or battlement. 

Or seemed fantastically set 200 

With cupola or minaret. 

Wild crests as pagod ever decked. 

Or mosque of Eastern architect. 

Nor were these earth-born castles bare. 

Nor lacked they many a banner fair ; 205 

For, from their shivered brows displayed, 

Far o'er the unfathomable glade, 

196. Tower. Tower of Babel. Genesis xi. 1-9. 
199. Battlement. A wall round the top of a castle, with openings 
to look through and annoy the enemy. 

201. Minaret. A high, slender turret on a Mohammedan mosque 
from which the people are called to prayers. 

202. Pagod. Pagoda. 



14 THE LADY OF THE LAKE 

All twinkling with the dewdrops sheen, 
The brier-rose fell in streamers green, 
And creeping shrubs of thousand dyes 
Waved in the west-wind's summer sighs. 



XII 

Boon nature scattered, free and wild. 

Each plant or flower, the mountain's child. 

Here eglantine embalmed the air. 

Hawthorn and hazel mingled there; 215 

The primrose pale and violet flower 

Found in each cleft a narrow bower ; 

Foxglove and nightshade, side by side, 

Emblems of punishment and pride. 

Grouped their dark hues with every stain 220 

The weather-beaten crags retain. 

With boughs that quaked at every breath, 

Gray birch and aspen wept beneath ; 

Aloft, the ash and warrior oak 

Cast anchor in the rifted rock; 225 

And, higher yet, the pine-tree hung 

His shattered trunk, and frequent flung, 

Where seemed the cliffs to meet on high, 

His boughs athwart the narrowed sky. 

Highest of all, where white peaks glanced, 230 

Where glistening streamers waved and danced, 

The wanderer's eye could barely view 

The summer heaven's delicious blue; 

208. Sheen. Shining. 



CANTO I THE CHASE 1 5 

So wondrous wild, the whole might seem 

The scenery of a fairy dream. 235 

XIII 

Onward, amid the copse *gan peep 

A narrow inlet, still and deep. 

Affording scarce such breadth of brim 

As served the wild duck's brood to swim. 

Lost for a space, through thickets veering, 240 

But broader when again appearing, 

Tall rocks and tufted knolls their face 

Could on the dark-blue mirror trace; 

And farther as the Hunter strayed, 

Still broader sweep its channels made. 245 

The shaggy mounds no longer stood. 

Emerging from entangled wood, 

But, wave-encircled, seemed to float, 

Like castle girdled with its moat ; 

Yet broader floods extending still 250 

Divide them from their parent hill, 

Till each, retiring, claims to be 

An islet in an inland sea. 

XIV 

And now, to issue from the glen. 

No pathway meets the wanderer's ken, 255 

Unless he climb with footing nice 

A far-projecting precipice. 

256. Unless he climb, etc. Until the present road was made through 
the romantic pass which I have presumptuously attempted to describe 



l6 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto i 

The broom's tough roots his ladder made, 

The hazel saplmgs lent their aid; 

And thus an airy point he won, 260 

Where, gleaming with the setting sun, 

One burnished sheet of living gold. 

Loch Katrine lay beneath him rolled. 

In all her length far winding lay. 

With promontory, creek, and bay, 265 

And islands that, empurpled bright. 

Floated amid the hvelier light. 

And mountains that like giants stand 

To sentinel enchanted land. 

High on the south, huge Benvenue 270 

Down to the lake in masses threw 

Crags, knolls, and mounds, confusedly hurled, 

The fragments of an earlier world; 

A wildering forest feathered o'er 

His ruined sides and summit hoar, 275 

in the preceding stanzas, there was no mode of issuing out of the defile 
called the Trosachs, excepting by a sort of ladder composed of the 
branches and roots of trees. — Scott. 

258. Broom. A large bushy shrub having tough, leafless stems and 
flowers of a deep golden yellow. Brooms were so called because they 
were originally made from it. — Stevens and Morris. 

263. Loch Katrine. The scene of the poem is one of the most beau- 
tiful of the Scottish lakes, situated in Perthshire. It is about eight 
miles long and two miles wide, serpentine in shape, and surrounded by 
high mountains and deep ravines. A small steamer plies on the lake. 
Near its outlet is situated Ellen's Isle in the wild region of the Trosachs. 
It is supposed to have derived its name from " Catterins or Ketterins, a 
wild band of robbers, who prowled about its shores to the terror of all 
wayfarers." 

274. Wildering. Bewildering. 



D I THE CHASE 17 

While on the north, through middle air, 
Ben-an heaved high his forehead bare. 



XV 

From the steep promontory gazed 

The stranger, raptured and amazed, 

And, <*What a scene were here," he cried, 280 

*' For princely pomp or churchman's pride ! 

On this bold brow, a lordly tower; 

In that soft vale, a lady's bower; 

On yonder meadow far away 

The turrets of a cloister gray ; 285 

How blithely might the bugle-horn 

Chide on the lake the lingering morn ! 

How sweet at eve the lover's lute 

Chime when the groves were still and mute! 

And when the midnight moon should lave 290 

Her forehead in the silver wave. 

How solemn on the ear would come 

The holy matins' distant hum, 

While the deep peal's commanding tone 

Should wake, in yonder islet lone, 295 

A sainted hermit from his cell. 

To drop a bead with every knell ! 

And bugle, lute, and bell, and all, 

277. Ben-an. " Little Mountain," lying north of the Trosachs. 

293. Matins. Early morning prayers in Catholic churches. 

297. Bead. Formerly meant a prayer, and hence came to be applied 
to the small perforated balls used in keeping an account of the number 
of prayers recited. 



1 8 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto i 

Should each bewildered stranger call 

To friendly feast and lighted hall. 300 

XVI 
" Blithe were it then to wander here ! 
But now — beshrew yon nimble deer ! — 
Like that same hermit's, thin and spare, 
The copse must give my evening fare ; 
Some mossy bank my couch must be, 305 

Some rustling oak my canopy. 
Yet pass we that ; the war and chase 
Give little choice of resting-place; — 
A summer night in greenwood spent 
Were but to-morrow's merriment: 310 

But hosts may in these wilds abound. 
Such as are better missed than found; 
To meet with Highland plunderers here 
Were worse than loss of steed or deer. — 
I am alone; — my bugle strain 315 

May call some straggler of the train ; 
Or, fall the worst that may betide, 
Ere now this falchion has been tried." 

XVII 

But scarce again his horn he wound, 

When lo ! forth starting at the sound, 320 

302. Beshrew. '• May ill betide," a slight curse. 

313. Highland plunderers. The class who inhabited the romantic 
regions in the neighborhood of Loch Katrine were, even until a late 
period, much addicted to predatory excursions upon their Lowland 
neighbors. — Scott. 

318. Falchion (fawKchun). A broadsword with slightly curved point. 



CANTO I THE CHASE 19 

• From underneath an aged oak 
That slanted from the islet rock, 
A damsel guider of its way, 
A little skiff shot to the bay. 

That round the promontory steep 325 

Led its deep line in graceful sweep. 
Eddying, in almost viewless wave. 
The weeping willow twig to lave, 
And kiss, with whispering sound and slow, 
The beach of pebbles bright as snow. 330 

The boat had touched this silver strand 
Just as the Hunter left his stand. 
And stood concealed amid the brake. 
To view this Lady of the Lake. 
The maiden paused, as if again 335 

She thought to catch the distant strain. 
With head upraised, and look intent, 
And eye and ear attentive bent. 
And locks flung back, and lips apart, 
Like monument of Grecian art, 340 

In listening mood, she seemed to stand, 
The guardian Naiad of the strand. 

XVin 
* And ne'er did Grecian chisel trace 
A Nymph, a Naiad, or a Grace, 
Of finer form or lovelier face ! 345 

What though the sun, with ardent frown. 
Had slightly tinged her cheek with brown, — 

342. Naiad (na'yad). A water nymph or goddess presiding over 
rivers and springs. 



20 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto i 

The sportive toil, which, short and hght. 

Had dyed her glowing hue so bright. 

Served too in hastier swell to show 350 

Short glimpses of a breast of snow : 

What though no rule of courtly grace 

To measured mood had trained her pace, — 

A foot more light, a step more true, 

Ne'er from the heath-flower dashed the dew ; 355 

E'en the slight harebell raised its head, 

Elastic from her airy tread : 

What though upon her speech there hung 

The accents of the mountain tongue, — 

Those silver sounds, so soft, so dear, 360 

The listener held his breath to hear ! 



XIX 

A chieftain's daughter seemed the maid ; 

Her satin snood, her silken plaid. 

Her golden brooch, such birth betrayed. 

And seldom was a snood amid 365 

Such wild luxuriant ringlets hid. 

Whose glossy black to shame might bring 

The plumage of the raven's wing ; 

353. Measured mood. Studied behavior. 

363. Snood. A headband worn by Scottish maidens. — Plaid. Pro- 
nounced //ay^^ by the Scotch. It consisted of about a dozen yards of 
woolen cloth, checked with threads of various bright colors. It was 
wrapped around the middle of the body, fastened with a belt, and 
extended down to the knee. It was much worn as an over-garment by 
the Highlanders of both sexes, and each clan was distinguished by its 
own peculiar plaid. Plaid is the garment ; tartan is the pattern. 



CANTO I THE CHASE 21 

And seldom o'er a breast so fair . 

Mantled a plaid with modest care, 370 

And never brooch the folds combined 

Above a heart more good and kind. 

Her kindness and her worth to spy, 

You need but gaze on Ellen's eye ; 

Not Katrine in her mirror blue 375 

Gives back the shaggy banks more true. 

Than every freeborn glance confessed 

The guileless movements of her breast ; 

Whether joy danced in her dark eye, 

Or woe or pity claimed a sigh, 380 

Or filial love was glowing there, 

Or meek devotion poured a prayer, 

Or tale of injury called forth 

The indignant spirit of the North. 

One only passion unrevealed 385 

With maiden pride the maid concealed, 

Yet not less purely felt the flame ; — 

O, need I tell that passion's name ? 

XX 

Impatient of the silent horn. 

Now on the gale her voice was borne : — 390 

" Father ! " she cried ; the rocks around 

Loved to prolong the gentle sound. 

Awhile she paused, no answer came ; — 

" Malcolm, was thine the blast ? " the name 

Less resolutely uttered fell, 395 

The echoes could not catch the swell. 



22 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto i 

''A stranger I," the Huntsman said, 

Advancing from the hazel shade. 

The maid, alarmed, with hasty oar 

Pushed her light shallop from the shore, 400 

And when a space was gained between. 

Closer she drew her bosom's screen; — 

So forth the startled swan would swing. 

So turn to prune his ruffled wing. 

Then safe, though fluttered and amazed, 405 

She paused, and on the stranger gazed. 

Not his the form, nor his the eye, 

That youthful maidens wont to fly. 

XXI 

On his bold visage middle age 

Had slightly pressed its signet sage, 410 

Yet had not quenched the open truth 

And fiery vehemence of youth ; 

Forward and frolic glee was there, 

The will to do, the soul to dare. 

The sparkling glance, soon blown to fire, 415 

Of hasty love or headlong ire. 

His limbs were cast in manly mold 

For hardy sports or contest bold ; 

And though in peaceful garb arrayed, 

And weaponless except his blade, 420 

His stately mien as well implied 

A high-born heart, a martial pride, 

404. Prune. To trim and arrange the feathers with the bill. 

408. Wont. Are accustomed. 

410. Signet sage. Seal of wisdom; impression of gravity. 



CANTO I THE CHASE 23 

As if a baron's crest he wore, 

And sheathed in armor trode the shore. 

Slighting the petty need he showed, 425 

He told of his benighted road ; 

His ready speech flowed fair and free, 

In phrase of gentlest courtesy, 

Yet seemed that tone and gesture bland 

Less used to sue than to command. 430 

XXII 

Awhile the maid the stranger eyed, 

And, reassured, at length replied. 

That Highland halls were open still 

To wildered wanderers of the hill. 

"Nor think you unexpected come 435 

To yon lone isle, our desert home ; 

Before the heath had lost the dew. 

This morn, a couch was pulled for you ; 

On yonder mountain's purple head 

Have ptarmigan and heath-cock bled, 440 

And our broad nets have swept the mere, 

To furnish forth your evening cheer." — 

" Now, by the rood, my lovely maid. 

Your courtesy has erred," he said ; 

" No right have I to claim, misplaced, 445 

The welcome of expected guest. 

425. Slighting the need. Treating lightly his lack of food and shelter. 

426. Benighted. Overtaken by night. 

440. Ptarmigan. White grouse. — Heath-cock. Black grouse. 
443. By the rood. By the cross. 



24 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto i 

A wanderer, here by fortune tost, 

My way, my friends, my courser lost, 

I ne'er before, believe me, fair. 

Have ever drawn your mountain air, 450 

Till on this lake's romantic strand 

I found a fay in fairy land ! " — 



xxni , 

" I well believe," the maid replied. 

As her light skiff approached the side, — 

" I well believe, that ne'er before 455 

Your foot has trod Loch Katrine's shore ; 

But yet, as far as yesternight 

Old Allan-bane foretold your plight, — 

A gray -haired sire, whose eye intent 

Was on the visioned future bent. 460 

He saw your steed, a dappled gray. 

Lie dead beneath the birchen way; 

Painted exact your form and mien. 

Your hunting-suit of Lincoln green, 

460. On the visioned future bent. If force of evidence could authorize 
us to believe facts inconsistent with the general laws of nature, enough 
might be produced in favor of the existence of the second-sight. " The 
second-sight is a singular faculty of seeing an otherwise invisible object 
without any previous means used by the person that used it for that end : 
the vision makes such a lively impression upon the seers, that they 
neither see nor think of anything else, except the vision, as long as it 
continues ; and then they appear pensive or jovial, according to the 
object that w-as represented to them." — Scott. 

464. Lincoln green. The color of cloth formerly made in Lincoln and 
worn by the Lowland huntsmen. 



-^To 1 THE CHASE 25 

That tasseled horn so gayly gilt, 465 

That falchion's crooked blade and hilt, 

That cap with heron plumage trim. 

And yon two hounds so dark apd grim. 

He bade that all should ready be 

To grace a guest of fair degree ; 470 

But light I held his prophecy, 

And deemed it was my father's horn 

Whose echoes o'er the lake were borne." 

XXIV 

The stranger smiled : — " Since to your home 

A destined errant-knight I come, 475 

Announced by prophet sooth and old, 

Doomed, doubtless, for achievement bold, 

I '11 lightly front each high emprise 

For one kind glance of those bright eyes. 

Permit me first the task to guide 480 

Your fairy frigate o'er the tide." 

The maid, with smile suppressed and sly. 

The toil unwonted saw him try; 

For seldom, sure, if e'er before. 

His noble hand had grasped an oar : 485 

Yet with main strength his strokes he drew. 

And o'er the lake the shallop flew ; 

With heads erect and whimpering cry. 

The hounds behind their passage ply. 

475. Errant-knight. A knight wandering in search of adventure. 

476. Sooth. True. 

478. Emprise. A dangerous undertaking. 



26 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto i 

Nor frequent does the bright oar break 490 

The darkening mirror of the lake, 
Until the rocky isle they reach, 
And moor their shallop on the beach. 

XXV 

The stranger viewed the shore around ; 

'Twas all so close with copsewood bound, 495 

Nor track nor pathway might declare 

That human foot frequented there, 

Until the mountain maiden showed 

A clambering unsuspected road, 

That winded through the tangled screen, 500 

And opened on a narrow green. 

Where weeping birch and willow round 

With their long fibers swept the ground. 

Here, for retreat in dangerous hour, 

Some chief had framed a rustic bower. 505 

492. Rocky isle. Ellen's Isle, situated at the foot of the beautiful 
Loch Katrine, is a small island containing two or three acres of land 
rising abruptly from the water to a height of from twenty-five to fifty 
feet. It is covered with a thick undergrowth of shrubbery, ferns, honey- 
suckle, and heather, with a few native birches and pines. The landing 
is in a slight recess hidden by trees. The ascent is up a steep bank, 
the roots of the trees forming steps in the winding path well trodden by 
the thousands of travelers yearly visiting this wild and romantic spot. 
As the traveler lingers here he recalls the events of this poem more as 
matters of history than the creation of the great poet. Beautiful as are 
lake, isle, and " silver strand," one is glad to yield a grateful tribute to the 
memory of him who has invested this spot with a charm that shall endure 
so long as the love of knight and maiden shall interest mortals. 

504. For retreat in dsmgerous hour. The Celtic chieftains, whose 
lives were continually exposed to peril, had usually, in the most retired 



CANTO I THE CHASE 27 

XXVI 

It was a lodge of ample size, 

But strange of structure and device ; 

Of such materials as around 

The workman's hand had readiest found. 

Lopped of their boughs, their hoar trunks bared, 510 

And by the hatchet rudely squared. 

To give the walls their destined height, 

The sturdy oak and ash unite ; 

While moss and clay and leaves combined 

To fence each crevice from the wind. 515 

The lighter pine-trees overhead 

Their slender length for rafters spread, 

And withered heath and rushes dry 

Supplied a russet canopy. 

Due westward, fronting to the green, 520 

A rural portico was seen, 

Aloft on native pillars borne. 

Of mountain fir with bark unshorn. 

Where Ellen's hand had taught to twine 

The ivy and Idaean vine, 525 

The clematis, the favored flower 

Which boasts the name of virgin bower, 

spot of their domains, some place of retreat for the hour of necessity, 
which, as circumstances would admit, was a tower, a cavern, or a rustic 
hut, in a strong and secluded situation. One of these last gave refuge 
to the unfortunate Charles Edward, in his perilous wanderings after 
the battle of Culloden. — Scott. 

507. Device. Design. 

525. Idsean vine. Red whortleberry. Ida is a mountain in Crete. 



28 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto i 

And every hardy plant could bear 

Loch Katrine's keen and searching air. 

An instant in this porch she stayed, 530 

And gayly to the stranger said, 

" On heaven and on thy lady call, 

And enter the enchanted hall ! " 

XXVII 

" My hope, my heaven, my trust must be, 

My gentle guide, in following thee ! " — 535 

He crossed the threshold, — and a clang 

Of angry steel that instant rang. 

To his bold brow his spirit rushed, 

But 60on for vain alarm he blushed. 

When on the floor he saw displayed, 540 

Cause of the din, a naked blade 

Dropped from the sheath, that careless flung 

Upon a stag's huge antlers swung; 

For all around, the walls to grace. 

Hung trophies of the fight or chase : 545 

A target there, a bugle here, 

A battle-ax, a hunting-spear. 

And broadswords, bows, and arrows store, 

With the tusked trophies of the boar. 

Here grins the wolf as when he died, 550 

And there the wild-cat's brindled hide 

The frontlet of the elk adorns, 

Or mantles o'er the bison's horns ; 

528. (Which) could bear. Relative omitted. 

546. Target. A small shield used for defense in battle. 



CANTO I THE CHASE 29 

Pennons and flags defaced and stained, 

That blackening streaks of blood retained, 555 

And deer-skins, dappled, dun, and white, 

With otter's fur and seal's unite, 

In rude and uncouth tapestry all, 

To garnish forth the sylvan hall. 



XXVIII 

The wondering stranger round him gazed, 560 

And next the fallen weapon raised : — 

Few were the arms whose sinewy strength 

Sufficed to stretch it forth at length. 

And as the brand he poised and swayed, 

'* I never knew but one," he said, 565 

" Whose stalwart arm might brook to wield 

A blade like this in battlefield." 

She sighed, then smiled and took the word : 

" You see the guardian champion's sword ; 

As light it trembles in his hand 570 

As in my grasp a hazel wand : 

My sire's tall form might grace the part 

Of Ferragus or Ascabart, 

But in the absent giant's hold 

Are women now, and menials old." 575 

566. Brook. Endure. 

573. Ferragus and Ascabart. Fabled giants. These two sons of 
Anak flourished in romantic fable. The first is well known to lovers 
of Ariosto. Ascabart makes a very material figure in the History of 
Bevis of Hampton, by whom he was conquered. — ScoTT. 

575. Menials. Servants. 



30 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto i 

XXIX 

The mistress of the mansion came, 

Mature of age, a graceful dame, 

Whose easy step and stately port 

Had well become a princely court, 

To whom, though more than kindred knew, 580 

Young Ellen gave a mother's due. 

Meet welcome to her guest she made, 

And every courteous rite was paid 

That hospitality could claim. 

Though all unasked his birth and namie. 585 

Such then the reverence to a guest, 

That fellest foe might join the feast. 

And from his deadliest foeman's door 

Unquestioned turn, the banquet o'er. 

At length his rank the stranger names, 590 

"The Knight of Snowdoun, James Fitz-James ; 

Lord of a barren heritage. 

Which his brave sires, from age to age, 

578. Port. Bearing, deportment. 

580. More than kindred knew. Ellen's mother being dead, she loved 
this Lady Margaret, her maternal aunt, as though she were her mother, 
and treated her as such. — Stevens and Morris. 

585. Unasked his birth and name. The Highlanders, who carried 
hospitality to a punctilious excess, are said to have considered it as 
churlish to ask a stranger his name or lineage, before he had taken 
refreshment. Feuds were so frequent among them that a contrary rule 
would in many cases have produced the discovery of some circumstance 
which might have excluded the guest of the benefit of the assistance he 
stood in need of. — Scott. 

587. Fellest. Most cruel. 

591. Snowdoun. Name of Stirling Castle. (See Canto VI, line 789.) 



595 



TO I THE CHASE 

By their good swords had held with toil ; 

His sire had fallen in such turmoil, 

And he, God wot, was forced to stand 

Oft for his right with blade in hand. 

This morning with Lord Moray's train 

He chased a stalwart stag in vain. 

Outstripped his comrades, missed the deer, 6co 

Lost his good steed, and wandered here." 

XXX 

Fain would the Knight in turn require 

The name and state of Ellen's sire. ■^- 

Well showed the elder lady's mien 

That courts and cities she had seen ; 605 

Ellen, though more her looks displayed 

The simple grace of sylvan maid, 

In speech and gesture, form and face, 

Showed she was come of gentle race. 

'T was strange in ruder rank to find 610 

Such looks, such manners, and such mind. 

Each hint the Knight of Snowdoun gave. 

Dame Margaret heard with silence grave ; 

Or Ellen, innocently gay, 

Turned all inquiry light away : — 615 

" Weird women we ! by dale and down 

We dwell, afar from tower and town. 

We stem the flood, we ride the blast, 

On wandering knights our spells we cast ; 

596. Wot. Knows. 

616. Weird. Skilled in witchcraft. 



32 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto i 

While viewless minstrels touch the string, 620 

'T is thus our charmed rhymes we sing." 
She sung, and still a harp unseen 
Filled up the symphony between. 

XXXI 

" Soldier, rest ! thy warfare o'er. 

Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking ; 625 
Dream of battled fields no more. 

Days of danger, nights of waking. 
In our isle's enchanted hall, 

Hands unseen thy couch are strewing, 
Fairy strains of music fall, 630 

Every sense in slumber dewing. 
Soldier, rest ! thy warfare o'er. 
Dream of fighting fiekls no more; 
Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking, 
Morn of toil, nor night of waking. 635 

" No rude sound shall reach thine ear, 

Armor's clang or war-steed champing, 
Trump nor pibroch summon here 

Mustering clan or squadron tramping. 
Yet the lark's shrill fife may come 640 

At the daybreak from the fallow, 
And the bittern sound his drum. 

Booming from the sedgy shallow. 

638. Pibroch (pc'broch). A Highland air played upon the bagpipe. 



D I THE CHASE 33 

Ruder sounds shall none be near, 
Guards nor warders challenge here, 645 

Here 's no war-steed's neigh and champing. 
Shouting clans or squadrons stamping." 



XXXII 

She paused, — then, blushing, led the lay, 

To grace the stranger of the day. 

Her mellow notes awhile prolong 650 

The cadence of the flowing song. 

Till to her lips in measured frame 

The minstrel verse spontaneous came. 



^onSf ContinuetJ 

" Huntsman, rest 1 thy chase is done ; 

While our slumbrous spells assail ye, 655 

Dream not, with the rising sun, 

Bugles here shall sound reveille. 
Sleep ! the deer is in his den ; 

Sleep ! thy hounds are by thee lying ; 
Sleep ! nor dream in yonder glen 660 

How thy gallant steed lay dying. 
Huntsman, rest ! thy chase is done ; 
Think not of the rising sun, 
For at dawning to assail ye 
Here no bugles sound reveille^." 665 

657. Reveill6 (re-varyi). The beat of drums or bugle call at day- 
break for awakening the soldiers. 



34 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto i 

xxxni 

The hall was cleared, — the stranger's bed 

Was there of mountain heather spread, 

Where oft a hundred guests had lain, 

And dreamed their forest sports again.- 

But vainly did the heath-flower shed 670 

Its moorland fragrance round his head; 

Not Ellen's spell had lulled to rest 

The fever of his troubled breast. 

In broken dreams the image rose 

Of varied perils, pains, and woes : 675 

His steed now flounders in the brake, 

Now sinks his barge upon the lake ; 

Now leader of a broken host. 

His standard falls, his honor 's lost. 

Then, — from my couch may heavenly might 680 

Chase that worst phantom of the night ! — 

Again returned the scenes of youth. 

Of confident, undoubting truth ; . 

Again his soul he interchanged 

With friends whose hearts were long estranged. 685 

They come, in dim procession led. 

The cold, the faithless, and the dead; 

As warm each hand, each brow as gay, 

As if they parted yesterday. 

And doubt distracts him at the view, — 690 

O were his senses false or true ? 



679. His standard falls. A foreboding of the fatal disaster which 
was to close the life of James V. 



CANTO I THE CHASE 35 

Dreamed he of death or broken vow, 
Or is it all a vision now ? 

XXXIV 

At length, with Ellen in a grove 

He seemed to walk and speak of love ; 695 

She listened with a blush and sigh. 

His suit was warm, his hopes were high. 

He sought her yielded hand to clasp. 

And a cold gauntlet met his grasp: 

The phantom's sex was changed and gone, 700 

Upon its head a helmet shone ; 

Slowly enlarged to giant size, 

With darkened cheek and threatening eyes. 

The grisly visage, stern and hoar. 

To Ellen still a likeness bore. — 705 

He woke, and, panting with affright, 
Recalled the vision of the night. 

The hearth's decaying brands were red. 

And deep and dusky luster shed. 

Half showing, half concealing, all 710 

The uncouth trophies of the hall. 

Mid those the stranger fixed his eye 

Where that huge falchion hung on high. 

And thoughts on thoughts, a countless throng. 

Rushed, chasing countless thoughts along, 715 

Until, the giddy whirl to cure, 

He rose and sought the moonshine pure. 

699. Gauntlet. A glove protected on the back with metal, and for- 
merly used in battle. 70^. Grisly. Frightful. 



36 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto i 

XXXV 

The wild rose, eglantine, and broom 
Wasted around their rich perfume ; 
The birch-trees wept in fragrant balm ; 720 

The aspens slept beneath the calm ; 
The silver light, with quivering glance, 
Played on the water's still expanse, — 
Wild were the heart whose passion's sway- 
Could rage beneath the sober ray ! 725 
He felt its calm, that warrior guest. 
While thus he communed with his breast: — 
" Why is it, at each turn I trace 
Some memory of that exiled race ? 
Can I not mountain maiden spy, 730 
But she must bear the Douglas eye ? 
Can I not view a Highland brand, 
But it must match the Douglas hand ? 
Can I not frame a fevered dream. 
But still the Douglas is the theme ? 735 
I '11 dream no more, — by manly mind 
Not even in sleep is will resigned. 
My midnight orisons said o'er, 
I '11 turn to rest, and dream no more." 
His midnight orisons he told, 740 
A prayer with every bead of gold. 
Consigned to heaven his cares and woes. 
And sunk in undisturbed repose, 
Until the heath-cock shrilly crew. 
And morning dawned on Benvenue. 745 

732. Brand. Sword. 73S. Orisons. Prayers. 



Canto Second 



THE ISLAND 



At morn the black-cock trims his jetty wing, 

'T is morning prompts the hnnet's blithest lay, 
All Nature's children feel the matin spring 

Of life reviving, with reviving day ; 
And while yon Uttle bark glides down the bay, 5 

Wafting the stranger on his way again, 
Morn's genial influence roused a minstrel gray. 

And sweetly o'er the lake was heard thy strain. 
Mixed with the sounding harp, O white-haired 
Allan-bane ! 

II 

" Not faster yonder rowers' might 10 

Flings from their oars the spray. 
Not faster yonder rippling bright, 
That tracks the shallop's course in light. 

Melts in the lake away, 

9. White-haired Allan-bane. To a late period Highland chieftains 
retained in their service the bard, as a family ofificer. 

37 



38 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto ii 

Than men from memory erase ' 15 

The benefits of former days ; 

Then, stranger, go! good speed the while. 

Nor think again of the lonely isle. 

** High place to thee in royal court, 

High place in battled line, 20 

Good hawk and hound for sylvan sport ! 
Where beauty sees the brave resort, 

The honored meed be thine ! 
True be thy sword, thy friend sincere. 
Thy lady constant, kind, and dear, 25 

And lost in love's and friendship's smile 
Be memory of the lonely isle ! 

Ill 
S»onff Conttntteti 

" But if beneath yon southern sky 

A plaided stranger roam, 
Whose drooping crest and stifled sigh, 30 

And sunken cheek and heavy eye. 

Pine for his Highland home; 
Then, warrior, then be thine to show 
The care that soothes a wanderer's woe; 
Remember then thy hap erewhile, 35 

A stranger in the lonely isle. 

*' Or if on life's uncertain main 
Mishap shall mar thy sail ; 

17. Speed. Success. 35. Hap. Lot or fortune. 



CANTO II THE ISLAND 39 

If faithful, wise, and brave in vain, 

Woe, want, and exile thou sustain 40 

Beneath the fickle gale; 
Waste not a sigh on fortune changed, 
On thankless courts, or friends estranged, 
But come where kindred worth shall smile. 
To greet thee in the lonely isle." 45 

IV 

As died the sounds upon the tide. 

The shallop reached the mainland side, 

And ere his onward way he took, 

The stranger cast a lingering look. 

Where easily his eye might reach 50 

The Harper on the islet beach. 

Reclined against a blighted tree, 

As wasted, gray, and worn as he. 

To minstrel meditation given. 

His reverend brow was raised to heaven, 5^ 

As from the rising sun to claim 

A sparkle of inspiring flame. 

His hand, reclined upon the wire, 

Seemed watching the awakening fire; 

So still he sat as those who wait 60 

Till judgment speak the doom of fate ; 

So still, as if no breeze might dare 

To lift one lock of hoary hair; 

So still, as life itself were fled 

In the last sound his harp had sped. 65 



40 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto ii 



Upon a rock with lichens wild, 

Beside him Ellen sat and smiled. — 

Smiled she to see the stately drake 

Lead forth his fleet upon the lake, 

While her vexed spaniel from the beach 70 

Bayed at the prize beyond his reach ? 

Yet tell me, then, the maid who knows, 

Why deepened on her cheek the rose ? — 

Forgive, forgive. Fidelity! 

Perchance the maiden smiled to see 75 

Yon parting lingerer wave adieu. 

And stop and turn to wave anew ; 

And, lovely ladies, ere your ire 

Condemn the heroine of my lyre. 

Show me the fair would scorn to spy 80 

And prize such conquest of her eye ! 



VI 

While yet he loitered on the spot. 

It seemed as Ellen marked him not ; 

But when he turned him to the glade. 

One courteous parting sign she made; 85 

And after, oft the knight would say. 

That not when prize of festal day 

Was dealt him by the brightest fair 

Who e'er wore jewel in her hair. 

So highly did his bosom swell 90 

As at that simple mute farewell. 



CANTO II THE ISLAND 41 

Now with a trusty mountain guide, 

And his dark stag-hounds by his side, 

He parts, — the maid, unconscious still. 

Watched him wind slowly round the hill ; 95 

But when his stately form was hid, 

The guardian in her bosom chid, — 

" Thy Malcolm ! vain and selfish maid ! " 

'T was thus upbraiding conscience said, — 

" Not so had Malcolm idly hung 100 

On the smooth phrase of Southern tongue ; 

Not so had Malcolm strained his eye 

Another step than thine to spy." — 

"Wake, Allan-bane," aloud she cried 

To the old minstrel by her side, — 105 

" Arouse thee from thy moody dream ! 

I '11 give thy harp heroic theme, 

And warm thee with a noble name ; 

Pour forth the glory of the Graeme ! " 

109. Graeme. The ancient and powerful family of Graham (which, 
for metrical reasons, is here spelt after the Scottish pronunciation) 
held extensive possessions in the counties of Dumbarton and Stirling. 
Few families can boast of more historical renown, having claim to three 
of the most remarkable characters in the Scottish annals. Sir John the 
Graeme, the faithful and undaunted partaker of the labors and patriotic 
warfare of Wallace, fell in the unfortunate field of Falkirk, in 1298. 
The celebrated Marquis of Montrose, in whom De Retz saw realized his 
abstract idea of the heroes of antiquity, was the second of these worthies. 
And, notwithstanding the severity of his temper, and the rigor with 
which he executed the oppressive mandates of the princes whom he 
served, I do not hesitate to natAe as a third, John Graeme of Claver- 
house, Viscount of Dundee, whose heroic death in the arms of victory 
may be allowed to cancel the memory of his cruelty to the Noncon- 
formists during the reigns of Charles II and James II. — ScoTT. 



42 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto ii 

Scarce from her lip the word had rushed, i lo 

When deep the conscious maiden blushed ; 

For of his clan, in hall and bower, 

Young Malcolm Graeme was held the flower. 

VII 

The minstrel waked his harp, — three times 
Arose the well-known martial chimes, 115 

And thrice their high heroic pride 
In melancholy murmurs died. 
"Vainly thou bidst, O noble maid," 
Clasping his withered hands, he said, 
''Vainly thou bidst me wake the strain, 120 

Though all unwont to bid in vain. 
Alas ! than mine a mightier hand 
Has tuned my harp, my strings has spanned ! 
I touch the chords of joy, but low 
And mournful answer notes of woe ; 125 

And the proud march which victors tread 
Sinks in the wailing for the dead. 
O, well for me, if mine alone . 
That dirge's deep prophetic tone ! 
If, as my tuneful fathers said, 130 

■ This harp, which erst Saint Modan swayed, 

112. Clan. A number of families united under one chieftain, hav- 
ing a common ancestor and bearing the same surname. — Bower. 
Chamber or lady's parlor. *' In hall and bower." In assemblies of 
men and women. 

131. Saint Modan. I am not prepared to show that St. Modan 
was a performer on the harp. It was, however, no unsaintly accom- 
plishment ; for St. Dunstan certainly did play upon that instrument. 



CANTO II THE ISLAND 43 

Can thus its master's fate foretell, 
Then welcome be the minstrel's knell ! 



VIII 

<'But ah ! dear lady, thus it sighed, 

The eve thy sainted mother died ; 135 

And such the sounds which, while I strove 

To wake a lay of war or love, 

Came marring all the festal mirth, 

Appalling me who gave them birth. 

And, disobedient to my call, 140 

Wailed loud through Bothwell's bannered hall, 

Ere Douglases, to ruin driven, 

Were exiled from their native heaven. — 

which retaining, as was natural, a portion of the sanctity attached to its 
master's character, announced future events by its spontaneous sound. 
— Scott. 

141. Bothwell's bannered hall. Bothwell Castle, now in ruins, situ- 
ated near Glasgow on the Clyde. 

142. Douglases. The Douglas family had been exceedingly power- 
ful ever since the great wars with England, when James Douglas had 
been the chief friend of Bruce, the champion of national independence. 
The earls of Douglas and of Angus, with their many relatives, had 
since grown so powerful and unscrupulous as to be the terror of kings 
and people ; so that it was said that no justice could be obtained against 
a Douglas or a Douglas's man. Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, had 
married Margaret Tudor, the mother of James V, and the young king, 
in his boyhood, had been held in such subjection that when at last he 
made his escape from the numerous Douglases who guarded and watched 
him, he hated the very name of the family, and banished every one of 
them, including a brave old man, Douglas of Kilspindie, who had been a 
great favorite with him in his childhood, and from whom the character 
of the Douglas of the poem is taken. — Yonge. 



44 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto ii 

O ! if yet worse mishap and woe 

My master's house must undergo, 145 

Or aught but weal to Ellen fair 

Brood in these accents of despair,. 

No future bard, sad Harp ! shall fling 

Triumph or rapture from thy string ; 

One short, one final strain shall flow, 150 

Fraught with unutterable woe, 

Then shivered shall thy fragments lie, 

Thy master cast him down and die !" 

IX 

Soothing she answered him: ''Assuage, 

Mine honored friend, the fears of age ; 155 

All melodies to thee are known 

That harp has rung or pipe has blown, 

In Lowland vale or Highland glen. 

From Tweed to Spey — what marvel, then. 

At times unbidden notes should rise, 160 

Confusedly bound in memory's ties, 

Entangling, as they rush along. 

The war march with the funeral song? — 

Small ground is now for boding fear; 

Obscure, but safe, we rest us here. 165 

My sire, in native virtue great. 

Resigning lordship, lands, and state. 

Not then to fortune more resigned 

Than yonder oak might give the wind ; 

1 59. Tweed and Spey. Throughout the whole country, the Tweed 
being the southern boundary and the Spey in the far north. 



D II THE ISLAND 45 

The graceful foliage storms may reave, 170 

The noble stem they cannot grieve. 

For me " — she stooped, and, looking round, 

Plucked a .blue harebell from the ground, — • 

" For me, whose memory scarce conveys 

An image of more splendid days, 175 

This little flower that loves the lea 

May well my simple emblem be ; 

It drinks heaven's dew as blithe as rose 

That in the King's own garden grows; 

And when I place it in my hair, 180 

Allan, a bard is bound to swear 

He ne'er saw coronet so fair." 

Then playfully the chaplet wild 

She wreathed in her dark locks, and smiled. 

X 

Her smile, her speech, with winning sway, 185 

Wiled the old Harper's mood away. 

With such a look as hermits throw. 

When angels stoop to soothe their woe, 

He gazed, till fond regret and pride 

Thrilled to a tear, then thus replied : 190 

" Loveliest and best ! thou little know'st 

The rank, the honors, thou hast lost ! 

O, might I live to see thee grace. 

In Scotland's court, thy birthright place, 

To see my favorite's step advance 195 

The lightest in the courtly dance, 

170. Reave. To tearirom or sweep away. 



46 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto ii 

The cause of every gallant's sigh, 

And leading star of every eye, 

And theme of every minstrel's art, 

The Lady of the Bleeding Heart ! " . 200 

XI 

'* Fair dreams are these," the maiden cried, — 

Light was her accent, yet she sighed, — 

** Yet is this mossy rock to me 

Worth splendid chair and canopy ; 

Nor would my footstep spring more gay 205 

In courtly dance than blithe strathspey. 

Nor half so pleased mine ear incline 

To royal minstrel's lay as thine. 

And then for suitors proud and high. 

To bend before my conquering eye, — 210 

Thou, flattering bard ! thyself wilt say. 

That grim Sir Roderick owns its sway. 

The Saxon scourge, Clan-Alpine's pride, 

The terror of Loch Lomond's side. 

Would, at my suit, thou know'st, delay 215 

A Lennox foray — for a day." — 

200. The Bleeding Heart. The shield of the Douglas family bore a 
red heart crowned, in remembrance of the charge given on his deathbed 
by Robert Bruce to James Douglas to bear his heart to Jerusalem. 

206. Strathspey. A lively Scottish dance. 

213. Alpine. An ancient king from whom several clans claimed descent. 

214. Loch Lomond. One of the largest and most beautiful of Scottish 
lakes, near Loch Katrine. 

216. Lennox foray. The raid of a body of armed men, for the sake 
of plunder, into the territory of the Lennox family, which lay around 
the south end of Loch Lomond. 



THE ISLAND 



47 



XII 

The ancient bard her glee repressed : 

" 111 hast thou chosen theme for jest ! 

For who, through all this western wild, 

Named Black Sir Roderick e'er, and smiled ? 220 

In Holy-Rood a knight he slew ; 

I saw, when back the dirk he drew. 

Courtiers give place before the stride 

Of the undaunted homicide ; 

And since, though outlawed, hath his hand 225 

Full sternly kept his mountain land. 

Who else dared give — ah ! woe the day. 

That I such hated truth should say ! — 

The Douglas, like a stricken deer. 

Disowned by every noble peer, 230 

Even the rude refuge we have here ? 

220. Black Sir Roderick. See note, line 408. 

221. Holy-Rood. A castle in Edinburgh, the residence of the royal 
family of Scotland. It gets its name from its connection with the 
Abbey of Holy-Rood, or Holy Cross. — In Holy-Rood a knight he slew. 
This was by no means an uncommon occurrence in the Court of Scot- 
land ; nay, the presence of the sovereign himself scarcely restrained the 
ferocious and inveterate feuds which were the perpetual source of 
bloodshed among the Scottish nobility. — Scott. 

230. Disowned by every noble peer. The exiled state of this power- 
ful race is not exaggerated in this and subsequent passages. The 
hatred of James against the race of Douglas was so inveterate, that, 
numerous as their allies were, and disregarded as the regal authority 
had usually been in similar cases, their nearest friends, even in the most 
remote parts of Scotland, durst not entertain them, unless under the 
strictest and closest disguise. James Douglas, son of the banished 
Earl of Angus, afterwards well known by the title of Earl of Morton, 
lurked, during the exile of his family, in the north of Scotland, under 



48 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto ii 

Alas, this wild marauding Chief 

Alone might hazard our relief, 

And now thy maiden charms expand, 

Looks for his guerdon in thy hand ; 235 

Full soon may dispensation sought, 

To back his suit, from Rome be brought. 

Then, though an exile on the hill. 

Thy father, as the Douglas, still 

Be held in reverence and fear; 240 

And though to Roderick thou 'rt so dear 

That thou mightst guide with silken thread. 

Slave of thy will, this chieftain dread. 

Yet, O loved maid, thy mirth refrain ! 

Thy hand is on a lion's mane." — 245 

XIII 

"Minstrel," the maid replied, and high 

Her father's soul glanced from her eye, 

" My debts to Roderick's house I know : 

All that a mother could bestow 

To Lady Margaret's care I owe, 250 

the assumed name of James Innes, otherwise /^w^j the Grieve {i.e., Reeve 
or Bailiff). "And as he bore the name," says Godscroft, "so did he 
also execute the office of a grieve or overseer of the lands and rents, the 
corn and cattle of him with whom he lived." From the habits of fru- 
gality and observation which he acquired in his humble situation, the 
historian traces that intimate acquaintance with popular character 
which enabled him to rise so high in the state, and that honorable 
economy by which he repaired and established the shattered estates of 
Angus and Morton. — Scott. 

235. Guerdon. Reward. 

236. Dispensation. The granting of a license by the pope; in this 
case permission for Roderick to marry his cousin Ellen. 



CANTO II THE ISLAND 



49 



Since first an orphan in the wild 

She sorrowed o'er her sister's child ; 

To her brave chieftain son, from ire 

Of Scotland's King who shrouds my sire, 

A deeper, holier debt is owed ; 255 

And, could I pay it with my blood, 

Allan ! Sir Roderick should command 

My blood, my life, — but not my hand. 

Rather will Ellen Douglas dwell 

A votaress in Maronnan's cell ; 260 

Rather through realms beyond the sea. 

Seeking the world's cold charity, 

Where ne'er was spoke a Scottish word, 

And ne'er the name of Douglas heard. 

An outcast pilgrim will she rove, 265 

Than wed the man she cannot love. 

XIV 

" Thou shak'st, good friend, thy tresses gray, — 

That pleading look, what can it say 

But what I own .? — I grant him brave, 

But wild as Bracklinn's thundering wave ; 270 

And generous, — save vindictive mood 

Or jealous transport chafe his blood : 

254. Shrouds. Protects. 

260. Votaress. A woman devoted to any particular service or wor- 
ship. — Maronnan. The parish of Kilmaronock, at the eastern extremity 
of Loch Lomond, derives its name from a cell or chapel, dedicated to 
St. Maronnan. — Scott. 

270. Bracklinn. This is a beautiful cascade made by a mountain 
stream called the Keltie, at a place called the Bridge of Bracklinn, about 
a mile from the village of Callander. — Scott. 



50 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto ii 

I grant him true to friendly band, 

As his claymore is to his hand ; 

But O ! that very blade of steel 275 

More mercy for a foe would feel : 

I grant him liberal, to fling 

Among his clan the wealth they bring, 

When back by lake and glen they wind, 

And in the Lowland leave behind, 280 

Where once some pleasant hamlet stood, 

A mass of ashes slaked with blood. 

The hand that for my father fought 

I honor, as his daughter ought ; 

But can I clasp it reeking red 285 

From peasants slaughtered in their shed ? 

No ! wildly while his virtues gleam. 

They make his passions darker seem. 

And flash along his spirit high, 

Like lightning o'er the midnight sky. 290 

While yet a child, — and children know. 

Instinctive taught, the friend and foe, — 

I shuddered at his brow of gloom. 

His shadowy plaid and sable plume ; 

A maiden grown, I ill could bear 295 

His haughty mien and lordly air : 

But, if thou join'st a suitor's claim, 

In serious mood, to Roderick's name, 

I thrill with anguish ! or, if e'er 

A Douglas knew the word, with fear. 300 

274. Claymore. A large sword formerly used by the Highlanders. 
282. Slaked. Drenched. 



CANTO II THE ISLAND 5 1 

To change such odious theme were best, — 



What think' St thou of our stranger guest 



? " 



XV 

" What think I of him ? — woe the while 

That brought such wanderer to our isle ! 

Thy father's battle-brandy of yore 305 

For Tine-man forged by fairy lore, 

What time he leagued, no longer foes. 

His Border spears with Hotspur's bows, 

Did, self-unscabbarded, foreshow . 

The footstep of a secret foe. 310 

If courtly spy hath harbored here. 

What may we for the Douglas fear ? 

What for this island, deemed of old 

Clan-Alpine's last and surest hold ? 

If neither spy nor foe, I pray 315 

What yet may jealous Roderick say? — 

Nay, wave not thy disdainful head ! 

Bethink thee of the discord dread 

That kindled when at Beltane game 

Thou ledst the dance with Malcolm Graeme ; 320 

306. Tine-man. Archibald, the third Earl of Douglas, was so unfor- 
tunate in all his enterprises, that he acquired the epithet of Tine-man, 
because he tined, or lost, his followers in every battle which he fought. 
— Scott. 

308. His Border spears with Hotspur's bows. The reference is to the 
alliance of Douglas with his Scottish spearmen, and the English under 
Percy, or Hotspur, armed with the crossbow. 

319. Beltane game. A May-day festival in honor of Beal, the Sun, 
celebrated by kindling fires on the hilltops and other ceremonies. 



52 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto ii 

Still, though thy sire the peace renewed, 

Smolders in Roderick's breast the feud : 

Beware ! — But hark ! what sounds are these ? 

My dull ears catch no faltering breeze, 

No weeping birch nor aspens wake, 325 

Nor breath is dimpling in the lake ; 

Still is the canna's hoary beard. 

Yet, by my minstrel faith, I heard — 

And hark again ! some pipe of war 

Sends the bold pibroch from afar." • 330 



XVI 

Far up the lengthened lake were spied 

Four darkening specks upon the tide. 

That, slow enlarging on the view. 

Four manned and masted barges grew, 

And, bearing downwards from Glengyle, 335 

Steered full upon the lonely isle ; 

The point of Brianchoil they passed. 

And, to the windward as they cast, 

Against the sun they gave to shine 

The bold Sir Roderick's bannered Pine. 340 

Nearer and nearer as they bear, 

Spears, pikes, and axes flash in air. 

Now might you see the tartans brave. 

And plaids and plumage dance and wave : 

327. Canna. Cotton grass. 

340. Bannered Pine. The pine was the badge of Clan-Alpine. 

343. Tartans brave. Showy plaids. (Cf. Canto I, 363.) 



CANTO II THE ISLAND 5.3 

Now see the bonnets sink and rise, 345 

As his tough oar the rower pHes ; 

See, flashing at each sturdy stroke. 

The wave ascending into smoke ; 

See the proud pipers on the bow, 

And mark the gaudy streamers flow 350 

From their loud chanters down, and sweep 

The furrowed bosom of the deep. 

As, rushing through the lake amain. 

They plied the ancient Highland strain. 



XVII 

Ever, as on they bore, more loud 355 

And louder rung the pibroch proud. 

At first the sounds, by distance tame, 

Mellowed along the waters came. 

And, lingering long by cape and bay. 

Wailed every harsher note away. 360 

Then bursting bolder on the ear. 

The clan's shrill Gathering they could hear, 

Those thrilUng sounds that call the might 

Of old Clan- Alpine to the fight. 

Thick beat the rapid notes, as when 365 

The mustering hundreds shake the glen, 

345. Bonnets. The ordinary Scotch cap worn by men is called a 
bonnet in Scotland. 

351. Chanter. Tube of the bagpipe. 

363. Thrilling sounds, etc. The connoisseurs in pipe music affect to 
discover, in a well-composed pibroch, the imitative sounds of march, 
conflict, flight, pursuit, and all the " current of a heady fight." — Scott. 



54 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto ii 

And hurrying at the signal dread, 

The battered earth returns their tread. 

Then prelude light, of livelier tone, 

Expressed their merry marching on, 370 

Ere peal of closing battle rose. 

With mingled outcry, shrieks, and blows; 

And mimic din of stroke and ward, 

As broadsword upon target jarred; 

And groaning pause, ere yet again, 375 

Condensed, the battle yelled amain : 

The rapid charge, the rallying shout, 

Retreat borne headlong into rout. 

And bursts of triumph, to declare 

Clan- Alpine's conquest — all were there. 380 

Nor ended thus the strain, but slow 

Sunk in a moan prolonged and low. 

And changed the conquering clarion swell 

For wild lament o'er those that fell. 

xvni 

The war-pipes ceased, but lake and hill 385 

Were busy with their echoes still ; 

And, when they slept, a vocal strain 

Bade their hoarse chorus wake again, 

While loud a hundred clansmen raise 

Their voices in their Chieftain's praise. 390 

Each boatman, bending to his oar, 

With measured sweep the burden bore, 

383. Clarion. A kind of trumpet whose note is clear and shrill. 
392. Burden. Chorus. 



CANTO II THE ISLAND 55 

In such wild cadence as the breeze 

Makes through December's leafless trees. 

The chorus first could Allan know, 395 

" Roderick Vich Alpine, ho ! iro ! " 

And near, and nearer as they rowed, 

Distinct the martial ditty flowed. 

XIX 

Hail to the Chief who in triumph advances ! 

Honored and blest be the ever-green Pine ! 400 

Long may the tree, in his banner that glances. 
Flourish, the shelter and grace of our line ! 

Heaven send it happy dew. 

Earth lend it sap anew, 
Gayly to bourgeon and broadly to grow, 405 

While every Highland glen 

Sends our shout back again, 
*' Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho ! ieroe ! " 

405. Bourgeon (bur'jun). To bud or sprout. 

408. Roderigh Vich Alpine. Besides his ordinary name and surname, 
which were chiefly used in the intercourse with the Lowlands, every 
Highland chief had an epithet expressive of his patriarchal dignity as 
head of the clan, and which was common to all his predecessors and 
successors, as Pharaoh to the kings of Egypt, or Arsaces to those of 
Parthia. This name was usually a patronymic, expressive of his descent 
from the founder of the family. Besides this title, which belonged to 
his office and dignity, the chieftain had usually another peculiar to him- 
self, which distinguished him from the chieftains of the same race. This 
was sometimes derived from complexion, as dhu or 7'oy ; sometimes from 
size, as beg or more ; at other times, from some peculiar exploit, or from 
some peculiarity of habit or appearance. The line of the text therefore 
signifies Black Roderick, the descendant of Alpine. — Scott. 



56 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto ii 

Ours is no sapling, chance-sown by the fountain, 

Blooming at Beltane, in winter to fade ; 410 

When the whirlwind has stripped every leaf on the 
mountain, 
The more shall Clan-Alpine exult in her shade. 
Moored in the rifted rock. 
Proof to the tempest's shock. 
Firmer he roots him the ruder it blow; 415 

Menteith and Breadalbane, then. 
Echo his praise again, 
" Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho ! ieroe ! " 



XX 

Proudly our pibroch has thrilled in Glen Fruin, 

And Bannochar's groans to our slogan replied ; 420 
Glen Luss and Ross-dhu, they are smoking in ruin, 
And the best of Loch Lomond lie dead on her side. 

Widow and Saxon maid 

Long shall lament our raid, 
Think of Clan- Alpine with fear and with woe ; 425 

Lennox and Leven-glen 

Shake when they hear again, 
''Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho ! ieroe ! " 

416. Menteith and Breadalbane. Districts north of Loch Lomond. 

419-426. Glen Fruin, Bannochar, Glen Luss, Ross-dhu, Leven-glen. 
Valleys on the borders of Loch Lomond. 

420. Slogan. Highland war cry. 

422. And the best of Loch Lomond, etc. The Lennox, as the district 
is called, which encircles the lower extremity of Loch Lomond, w^as 
peculiarly exposed to the incursions of tl?e mountaineers, who inhabited 



CANTO II THE ISLAND 



57 



Row, vassals, row, for the pride of the Highlands ! 

Stretch to your oars for the ever-green Pine ! 430 

O that the rosebud that graces yon islands 

Were wreathed in a garland around him to twine ! 

O that some seedling gem, 

Worthy such noble stem. 
Honored and blessed in their shadow might grow! 435 

Loud should Clan-Alpine then 

Ring from her deepmost glen, 
*' Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho ! ieroe ! " 



XXI 

With all her joyful female band 

Had Lady Margaret sought the strand. 440 

Loose on the breeze their tresses flew. 

And high their snowy arms they threw, 

As echoing back with shrill acclaim. 

And chorus wild, the Chieftain's name; 

While, prompt to please, with mother's art, 445 

The darling passion of his heart. 

The dame called Ellen to the strand. 

To greet her kinsman ere he land : 

''Come, loiterer, come! a Douglas thou, 

And shun to wreathe a victor's brow ? " 

Reluctantly and slow, the maid 

The unwelcome summoning obeyed, 



450 



the inaccessible fastnesses at the upper end of the lake, and the neigh- 
boring district of Loch Katrine. These were often marked by circum- 
stances of great ferocity. — Scott, 



58 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto ii 

And when a distant bugle rung, 

In the mid-path aside she sprung : — 

" List, Allan-bane ! From mainland cast 455 

I hear my father's signal blast. 

Be ours," she cried, "the skiff to guide. 

And waft him from the mountain-side." 

Then, like a sunbeam, swift and bright, 

She darted to her shallop light, 460 

And, eagerly while Roderick scanned. 

For her dear form, his mother's band, 

The islet far behind her lay, 

And she had landed in the bay. 

XXII 

Some feelings are to mortals given 465 

With less of earth in them than heaven ; 

And if there be a human tear 

From passion's dross refined and clear, 

A tear so limpid and so meek 

It would not stain an angel's cheek, 470 

'T is that which pious fathers shed 

Upon a duteous daughter's head ! 

And as the Douglas to his breast 

His darling Ellen closely pressed, 

Such holy drops her tresses steeped, 475 

Though 't v/as an hero's eye that weeped. 

Nor while on Ellen's faltering tongue 

Her filial welcomes crowded hung, 

Marked she that fear — affection's proof — 

Still held a graceful youth aloof ; 480 



CANTO II THE ISLAND 59 

No ! not till Douglas named his name, 
Although the youth was Malcolm Graeme. 

XXIII 

Allan, with wistful look the while. 

Marked Roderick landing on the isle; 

His master piteously he eyed, 485 

Then gazed upon the Chieftain's pride, 

Then dashed with hasty hand away 

From his dimmed eye the gathering spray; 

And Douglas, as his hand he laid 

On Malcolm's shoulder, kindly said: 490 

*< Canst thou, young friend, no meaning spy 

In my poor follower's glistening eye ? 

I '11 tell thee : — he recalls the day 

When in my praise he led the lay 

O'er the arched gate of Bothwell proud, 495 

While many a minstrel answered loud, 

When Percy's Norman pennon, won 

In bloody field, before me shone. 

And twice ten knights, the least a name 

As mighty as yon Chief may claim, 500 

Gracing my pomp, behind me came. 

Yet trust me, Malcolm, not so proud 

Was I of all that marshaled. crowd. 

Though the waned crescent owned my might. 

And in my train trooped lord and knight, 505 

497. Percy's Norman pennon was captured by the Douglas. 
504. Waned crescent. Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch, whose shield 
bore a crescent moon, had endeavored to set the king free from the 



6o THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto ii 

Though Blantyre hymned her hohest lays, 

And Bothwell's bards flung back my praise, 

As when this old man's silent tear, 

And this poor maid's affection dear, 

A welcome give more kind and true 510 

Than aught my better fortunes knew. 

Forgive, my friend, a father's boast, — 

O, it out-beggars all I lost ! " 



XXIV 

Delightful praise ! — like summer rose, 

That brighter in the dewdrop glows, ^ 515 

The bashful maiden's cheek appeared. 

For Douglas spoke, and Malcolm heard. 

The flush of shamefaced joy to hide, 

The hounds, the hawk, her cares divide ; 

The loved caresses of the maid 520 

The dogs with crouch and whimper paid ; 

And, at her whistle, on her hand 

The falcon took his favorite stand. 

Closed his dark wing, relaxed his eye. 

Nor, though unhooded, sought to fly. 525 

And, trust, while in such guise she stood. 

Like fabled goddess of the wood, 

Douglases, but had been defeated by them. His failure is hence called 
the waning of the crescent. — Yonge. 

506. Blantyre. An old priory or abbey opposite Bothwell Castle. 

525. Unhooded. It was very unusual for the falcon to rest quietly 
unhooded. He was kept with his head covered, and when the hood 
was removed he took flight at once in search of prey. 



CANTO II THE ISLAND 6l 

That if a father's partial thought 

O'erweighed her worth and beauty aught, 

Well might the lover's judgment fail 530 

To balance with a juster scale ; 

For with each secret glance he stole, 

The fond enthusiast sent his soul. 

XXV 

Of stature fair, and slender frame, 

But firmly knit, was Malcolm Graeme. 535 

The belted plaid and tartan hose 

Did ne'er more graceful limbs disclose ; 

His flaxen hair, of sunny hue. 

Curled closely round his bonnet blue. 

Trained to the chase, his eagle eye 540 

The ptarmigan in snow could spy ; 

Each pass, by mountain, lake, and heath. 

He knew, through Lennox and Menteith ; 

Vain was the bound of dark-brown doe 

When Malcolm bent his sounding bow, 545 

And scarce that doe, though winged with fear. 

Outstripped in speed the mountaineer : 

Right up Ben Lomond could he press. 

And not a sob his toil confess. 

His form accorded with a mind 550 

Lively and ardent, frank and kind ; 

A blither heart, till Ellen came. 

Did never love nor sorrow tame ; 

It danced as lightsome in his breast 

As played the feather on his crest. 555 



62 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto ii 

Yet friends, who nearest knew the youth, 

His scorn of wrong, his zeal for truth, 

And bards, who saw his features bold 

When kindled by the tales of old, 

Said, were that youth to manhood grown, 560 

Not long should Roderick Dhu's renown 

Be foremost voiced by mountain fame. 

But quail to that of Malcolm Graeme. 



XXVI 

Now back they wend their watery way, 

And, " O my sire ! " did Ellen say, 565 

" Why urge thy chase so far astray ? 

And why so late returned ? And why " — 

The rest was in her speaking eye. 

" My child, the chase I follow far, 

'T is mimicry of noble war ; 570 

And with that gallant pastime reft 

Were all of Douglas I have left. 

I met young Malcolm as I strayed 

Far eastward, in Glenfinlas' shade ; 

Nor strayed I safe, for all around 575 

Hunters and horsemen scoured the ground. 

This youth, though still a royal ward. 

Risked life and land to be my guard. 

And through the passes of the wood 

Guided my steps, not unpursued ; 580 

571. Reft. Bereft, taken away. 
574. Glenfinlas. A wooded valley. 



CANTO II THE ISLAND 63 

And Roderick shall his welcome make, 
Despite old spleen, for Douglas' sake. 
Then must he seek Strath-Endrick glen, 
Nor peril aught for me again." 



XXVII 

Sir Roderick, who to meet them came, 585 

Reddened at sight of Malcolm Graeme, 

Yet, not in action, word, or eye, 

Failed aught in hospitality. 

In talk and sport they whiled away 

The morning of that summer day ; 590 

But at high noon a courier light 

Held secret parley with the knight. 

Whose moody aspect soon declared 

That evil were the news he heard. 

Deep thought seemed toiling in his head ; 595 

Yet was the evening banquet made 

Ere he assembled round the flame 

His mother, Douglas, and the Graeme, 

And Ellen too ; then cast around 

His eyes, then fixed them on the ground, 600 

As studying phrase that might avail 

Best to convey unpleasant tale. 

Long with his dagger's hilt he played, 

Then raised his haughty brow, and said : — 

583, Strath-Endrick glen. A valley drained by Strath-Endrick into 
Loch Lomond. 



64 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto ii 

XXVIII 

*' Short be my speech ; — nor time affords, 605 

Nor my plain temper, glozing words. 

Kinsman and father, — if such name 

Douglas vouchsafe to Roderick's claim ; 

Mine honored mother ; — Ellen, — why, 

My cousin, turn away thine eye ? — 610 

And Graeme, in whom I hope to know 

Full soon a noble friend or foe, 

When age shall give thee thy command. 

And leading in thy native land, — 

List all ! — The King's vindictive pride 615 

Boasts to have tamed the Border-side, 

Where chiefs, with hound and hawk who came 

To share their monarch's sylvan game. 

Themselves in bloody toils were snared. 

And when the banquet they prepared, 620 

And wide their loyal portals flung, 

O'er their own gateway struggling hung. 

Loud cries their blood from Meggat's mead, 

From Yarrow braes and banks of Tweed, 

Where the lone streams of Ettrick glide, 625 

And from the silver Teviot's side ; 

606. Glozing. Fair, smooth, or flattering. 

616. Tamed the Border-side. James V strove to put down the law- 
lessness of the Border chiefs, who were almost licensed robbers. He 
made a progress, dealing stern justice, and taking several by surprise, in 
especial one Johnnie Armstrong who came out to welcome him, but was 
seized and put to death. — Yonge. 

623-626. Meggat, Yarrow, Ettrick, Teviot. Streams flowing into the 
Tweed. 624. Braes. Sloping or hilly ground. 



D II THE ISLAND 6$ 

The dales, where martial clans did ride, 

Are now one sheep-walk, waste and wide. 

This tyrant of the Scottish throne, 

So faithless and so ruthless known, 630 

Now hither comes ; his end the same, 

The same pretext of sylvan game. 

What grace for Highland Chiefs, judge ye 

By fate of Border chivalry. 

Yet more ; amid Glenfinlas' green, 635 

Douglas, thy stately form was seen. 

This by espial sure I know : 

Your counsel in the streight I show." 



XXIX 

Ellen and Margaret fearfully 

Sought comfort in each other's eye, 640 

Then turned their ghastly look, each one. 

This to her sire, that to her son. 

The hasty color went and came 

In the bold cheek of Malcolm Graeme, 

But from his glance it well appeared 645 

'T was but for Ellen that he feared ; 

While, sorrowful, but undismayed, 

The Douglas thus his counsel said : 

" Brave Roderick, though the tempest roar, 

It may but thunder and pass o'er; 650 

Nor will I here remain an hour, 

To draw the lightning on thy bower ; 

638. streight or s^raiif. Difficulty or emergency. 



66 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto ii 

For well fhou know'st, at this gray head 

The royal bolt were fiercest sped. 

For thee, who, at thy King's command, 655 

Canst aid him with a gallant band, 

Submission, homage, humbled pride. 

Shall turn the Monarch's wrath aside. 

Poor remnants of the Bleeding Heart, 

Ellen and I will seek apart 660 

The refuge of some forest cell. 

There, like the hunted quarry, dwell. 

Till on the mountain and the moor 

The stern pursuit be passed and o'er." — 

XXX 

" No, by mine honor," Roderick said, 665 

" So help me Heaven, and my good blade ! 

No, never ! Blasted be yon Pine, 

My father's ancient crest and mine. 

If from its shade in danger part 

The lineage of the Bleeding Heart ! 670 

Hear my blunt speech : grant me this maid 

To wife, thy counsel to mine aid ; 

To Douglas, leagued with Roderick Dhu, 

Will friends and allies flock enow ; 

Like cause of doubt, distrust, and grief, 675 

Will bind to us each Western Chief. 

When the loud pipes my bridal tell, 

The Links of Forth shall hear the knell, 

670. Lineage of the Bleeding Heart. Descendants of the Douglas 
family. (Cf. note, line 200.) 

678. Links of Forth. Windings of the River Forth. 



CANTO II 



THE ISLAND 6/ 



The guards shall start in Stirling's porch ; 

And when I light the nuptial torch, 680 

A thousand villages in flames 

Shall scare the slumbers of King James ! — 

Nay, Ellen, blench not thus away. 

And, mother, cease these signs, I pray ; 

I meant not all my heat might say. — 685 

Small need of inroad or of fight. 

When the sage Douglas may unite 

Each mountain clan in friendly band. 

To guard the passes of their land. 

Till the foiled King from pathless glen 690 

Shall bootless turn him home again." 

XXXI 

There are who have, at midnight hour, 

In slumber scaled a dizzy tower. 

And, on the verge that beetled o'er 

The ocean tide's incessant roar, 695 

Dreamed calmly out their dangerous dream. 

Till wakened by the morning beam ; 

When, dazzled by the eastern glow. 

Such startler cast his glance below. 

And saw unmeasured depth around, 700 

And heard unintermitted sound, 

679. Stirling's porch. Stirling Castle was long the residence of the 
Scottish kings. 

683. Blench. To draw back or shrink from. 

684. Signs. The mother was probably making the sign of the cross 
to ward off evil. 

694. Beetled. Hung, extended. 



68 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto ii 

And thought the battled fence so frail, 

It waved like cobweb in the gale ; — 

Amid his senses' giddy wheel, 

Did he not desperate impulse feel, 705 

Headlong to plunge himself below. 

And meet the worst his fears foreshow ? — 

Thus Ellen, dizzy and astound, 

As sudden ruin yawned around. 

By crossing terrors wildly tossed, ' 710 

Still for the Douglas fearing most, 

Could scarce the desperate thought withstand, 

To buy his safety with her hand. 



xxxn 

Such purpose dread could Malcolm spy 

In Ellen's quivering lip and eye, 715 

And eager rose to speak, — but ere 

His tongue could hurry forth his fear. 

Had Douglas marked the hectic strife. 

Where death seemed combating with life ; 

For to her cheek, in feverish flood, 720 

One instant rushed the throbbing blood. 

Then ebbing back, with sudden sway, 

Left its domain as wan as clay. 

" Roderick, enough ! enough ! " he cried, 

'' My daughter cannot be thy bride ; 725 

702. Battled fence. A defensive wall with openings from which to 
discharge missiles. 

708. Astound. Astounded. 



CANTO 11 THE ISLAND 69 

Not that the blush to wooer dear, 

Nor paleness that of maiden fear. 

It may not be, — forgive her, Chief, 

Nor hazard aught for our relief. 

Against his sovereign, Douglas ne'er 730 

Will level a rebellious spear. 

'T was I that taught his youthful hand 

To rein a steed and wield a brand ; 

I see him yet, the princely boy ! 

Not Ellen more my pride and joy ; 735 

I love him still, despite my wrongs 

By hasty wrath and slanderous tongues. 

O, seek the grace you well may find. 

Without a cause to mine combined ! " 



XXXIII 

Twice through the hall the Chieftain strode ; 740 

The waving of his tartans broad, 

And darkened brow, where wounded pride 

With ire and disappointment vied. 

Seemed, by the torch's gloomy light. 

Like the ill Demon of the night, 745 

Stooping his pinions' shadowy sway 

Upon the nighted pilgrim's way : 

But, unrequited Love ! thy dart 

Plunged deepest its envenomed smart. 

And Roderick, with thine anguish stung, 750 

At length the hand of Douglas wrung, 

747. Nighted. Benighted. 



70 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto ii 

While eyes that mocked at tears before 

With bitter drops were running o'er. 

The death-pangs of long- cherished hope 

Scarce in that ample breast had scope, 755 

But, struggling with his spirit proud. 

Convulsive heaved its checkered shroud, 

While every sob — so mute were all — 

Was heard distinctly through the hall. 

The son's despair, the mother's look, 760 

111 might the gentle Ellen brook ; 

She rose, and to her side there came. 

To aid her parting steps, the Graeme. 

XXXIV 

Then Roderick from the Douglas broke — 

As flashes flame through sable smoke, 765 

Kindling its wreaths, long, dark, and low. 

To one broad blaze of ruddy glow, 

So the deep anguish of despair 

Burst, in fierce jealousy, to air. 

With stalwart grasp his hand he laid 770 

On Malcolm's breast and belted plaid : 

" Back, beardless boy ! " he sternly said, 

"Back, minion ! holdst thou thus at naught 

The lesson I so lately taught ? 

This roof, the Douglas, and that maid, 775 

Thank thou for punishment delayed." 

Eager as greyhound on his game, 

Fiercely with Roderick grappled Graeme. 

757. Checkered shroud. Tartan plaid. 



CANTO II THE ISLAND 7 1 

" Perish my name, if aught afford 

Its Chieftain safety save his sword ! " 780 

Thus as they strove their desperate hand 

Griped to the dagger or the brand, 

And death had been — but Douglas rose, 

And thrust between the struggUng foes 

His giant strength : — " Chieftains, forego ! 785 

I hold the first who strikes my foe. — 

Madmen, forbear your frantic jar ! 

What ! is the Douglas fallen so far, 

His daughter's hand is deemed the spoil 

Of such dishonorable broil ? " 790 

Sullen and slowly they unclasp, 

As struck with shame, their desperate grasp. 

And each upon his rival glared. 

With foot advanced and blade half bared. 

XXXV 

Ere yet the brands aloft were flung, 795 

Margaret on Roderick's mantle hung, 

And Malcolm heard his Ellen's scream. 

As faltered through terrific dream. 

Then Roderick plunged in sheath his sword, 

And veiled his wrath in scornful word : 800 

" Rest safe till morning ; pity 't were 

Such cheek should feel the midnight air ! 

802. Such cheek should feel the midnight cdr. Hardihood was in 
every respect so essential to the character of a Highlander that the 
reproach of effeminacy was the most bitter which could be thrown upon 
him. — Scott. 



72 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto ii 

Then mayst thou to James Stuart tell, 

Roderick will keep the lake and fell, 

Nor lackey with his freeborn clan 805 

The pageant pomp of earthly man. 

More would he of Clan-Alpine know, 

Thou canst our strength and passes show. — 

Malise, what ho ! " — his henchman came : 

" Give our safe-conduct to the Graeme." 810 

Young Malcolm answered, calm and bold : 

" Fear nothing for thy favorite hold ; 

The spot an angel deigned to grace 

Is blessed, though robbers haunt the place. 

Thy churlish courtesy for those 815 

Reserve, who fear to be thy foes. 

As safe to me the mountain way 

At midnight as in blaze of day. 

Though with his boldest at his back 

Even Roderick Dhu beset the track. — 820 

Brave Douglas, — lovely Ellen, — nay, 

Naught here of parting will I say. 

Earth does not hold a lonesome glen 

So secret but we meet again. — 

Chieftain ! we too shall find an hour," — 825 

He said, and left the sylvan bower. 

804. Fell. A moor. 

805. Lackey. To serve as footman or wait upon. 

809. Henchman. This officer is a sort of secretary, and is to be 
ready upon all occasions to venture his life in defense of his master; 
and at drinking bouts he stands behind his seat, at his haunch, from 
which his title is derived, and watches the conversation to see if any 
one offends his patron. — Scott. 



CANTO II THE ISLAND 73 

XXXVI 

Old Allan followed to the strand — 

Such was the Douglas's command — 

And anxious told, how, on the morn, 

The stern Sir Roderick deep had sworn, 830 

The Fiery Cross should circle o'er 

Dale, glen, and valley, down and moor. 

Much were the peril to the Graeme 

From those who to the signal came ; 

Far up the lake 't were safest land, 835 

Himself would row him to the strand. 

He gave his counsel to the wind. 

While Malcolm did, unheeding, bind. 

Round dirk and pouch and broadsword rolled, 

His ample plaid in tightened fold, 840 

And stripped his limbs to such array 

As best might suit the watery way, — 



XXXVII 

Then spoke abrupt : *' Farewell to thee, 

Pattern of old fidelity ! " 

The Minstrel's hand he kindly pressed, — 845 

" O, could I point a place of rest ! 

My sovereign holds in ward my land, 

My uncle leads my vassal band ; 

831. The Fiery Cross. See Canto III, line 18. 

832. Down. A barren tract of sand hills blown up by the wind. 
847. My sovereign holds in ward my land. Because Malcolm was not 

of age. 



74 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto ii 

To tame his foes, his friends to aid, 

Poor Malcolm has but heart and blade. 850 

Yet, if there be one faithful Graeme 

Who loves the chieftain of his name, 

Not long shall honored Douglas dwell 

Like hunted stag in mountain cell ; 

Nor, ere yon pride-swollen robber dare, — 855 

I may not give the rest to air ! 

Tell Roderick Dhu I owed him naught, 

Not the poor service of a boat. 

To waft me to yon mountain-side." 

Then plunged he in the flashing tide. 860 

Bold o'er the flood his head he bore. 

And stoutly steered him from the shore ; 

And Allan strained his anxious eye. 

Far mid the lake his form to spy. 

Darkening across each puny wave, 865 

To which the moon her silver gave. 

Fast as the cormorant could skim, 

The swimmer plied each active limb ; 

Then landing in the moonlight dell. 

Loud shouted of his weal to tell. 870 

The minstrel heard the far halloo, 

And joyful from the shore withdrew. 



Canto Third 



THE GATHERING 



Time rolls his ceaseless course. The race of yore, 

Who danced our infancy upon their knee, 
And told our marveling boyhood legends store 

Of their strange ventures happed by land or sea, 
How they are blotted from the things that be ! 5 

How few, all weak and withered of their force. 
Wait on the verge of dark eternity. 

Like stranded wrecks, the tide returning hoarse. 
To sweep them from our sight ! Time rolls his cease- 
less course. 

Yet live there still who can remember well, 10 

How, when a mountain chief his bugle blew, 
Both field and forest, dingle, cliff, and dell. 

And solitary heath, the signal knew; 
And fast the faithful clan around him drew, 

What time the warning note was keenly wound, 15 
What time aloft their kindred banner flew, 

While clamorous war-pipes yelled the gathering 
sound, 
And while the Fiery Cross glanced, like a meteor, round. 

18. Fiery Cross. When a chieftain designed to summon his clan 
upon any sudden or important emergency, he slew a goat, and making 

75 



76 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto hi 

II 

The Summer dawn's reflected hue 

To purple changed Loch Katrine blue ; 20 

Mildly and soft the western breeze 

Just kissed the lake, -just stirred the trees, 

And the pleased lake, like maiden coy. 

Trembled but dimpled not for joy: 

The mountain shadows on her breast 25 

Were neither broken nor at rest ; 

In bright uncertainty they lie, 

Like future joys to Fancy's eye. 

The water-lily to the light 

Her chalice reared of silver bright; 30 

The doe awoke, and to the lawn. 

Begemmed with dewdrops, led her fawn; 

a cross of any light wood, seared its extremities in the fire, and extin- 
guished them in the blood of the animal. This was called the Fiery 
Cross, also Cream Tarigh, or the Cross of Shame, because disobedience 
to what the symbol implied inferred infamy. It was delivered to a swift 
and trusty messenger, who ran full speed with it to the next hamlet, 
where he presented it to the principal person, with a single word, imply- 
ing the place of rendezvous. He who received the symbol was bound 
to send it forward, with equal dispatch, to the next village; and thus 
it passed with incredible celerity through all the district which owed 
allegiance to the chief, and also among his allies and neighbors, if the 
danger was common to them. At sight of the Fiery Cross, every man, 
from sixteen years old to sixty, capable of bearing arms, was obliged 
instantly to repair, in his best arms and accouterments, to the place of 
rendezvous. He who failed to appear, suffered the extremities of fire 
and sword, which were emblematically denounced to the disobedient by 
the bloody and burnt marks upon this warlike signal. During the civil 
war of 1 745-1 746, the Fiery Cross often made its circuit; and upon one 
occasion it passed through the whole district of Breadalbane, a tract of 
thirty-two miles, in three hours. — Scott. 



CANTO III THE GATHERING 'jj 

The gray mist left the mountain-side, 

The torrent showed its gUstening pridq,; 

Invisible in flecked sky 35 

The lark sent down her revelry ; 

The blackbird and the speckled thrush 

Good-morrow gave from brake and bush ; 

In answer cooed the cushat dove 

Her notes of peace and rest and love. 40 

in 

No thought of peace, no thought of rest, 

Assuaged the storm in Roderick's breast. 

With sheathed broadsword in his hand, 

Abrupt he paced the islet strand. 

And eyed the rising sun, and laid 45 

His hand on his impatient blade. 

Beneath a rock, his vassals' care 

Was prompt the ritual to prepare, 

With deep and deathf ul meaning fraught ; 

For such Antiquity had taught 50 

Was preface meet, ere yet abroad 

The Cross of Fire should take its road. 

The shrinking band stood oft aghast 

At the impatient glance he. cast ; — 

Such glance the mountain eagle threw, 55 

As, from the cliffs of Benvenue, 

She spread her dark sails on the wind, 

And, high in middle heaven reclined, 

39. Cushat. Ringdove, or wood pigeon. 

48. Ritual. Performance of religious service. 



yS THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto iii 

With her broad shadow on the lake, 

Silenced the warblers of the brake. 60 



IV 

A heap of withered boughs was piled, 

Of juniper and rowan wild, 

Mingled with shivers from the oak, 

Rent by the lightning's recent stroke. 

Brian the Hermit by it stood, 65 

Barefooted, in his frock and hood. 

His grizzled beard and matted hair 

Obscured a visage of despair; 

His naked arms and legs, seamed o'er, 

The scars of frantic penance bore. 70 

That monk, of savage form and face, 

The impending danger of his race 

Had drawn from deepest solitude, 

Far in Benharrow's bosom rude. 

Not his the mien of Christian priest, 75 

But Druid's, from the grave released, 

Whose hardened heart and eye might brook 

On human sacrifice to look; 

71. That monk, etc. The state of religion in the Middle Ages afforded 
considerable facilities for those whose mode of life excluded them from 
regular worship, to secure, nevertheless, the ghostly assistance of con- 
fessors, perfectly willing to adapt the nature of their doctrine to the 
necessities and peculiar circumstances of their flock. Robin Hood, it is 
well known, had his celebrated domes'tic chaplain, Friar Tuck. — Scott. 

74. Benharrow. A mountain near Loch Lomond. 

76. Druid. A priest of the Celtic inhabitants of Gaul and Britain, 
who worshiped in groves, and made human sacrifices. 



CANTO III THE GATHERING 



79 



And much, 't was said, of heathen lore 

Mixed in the charms he muttered o'er. 80 

The hallowed creed gave only worse 

And deadlier emphasis of curse. 

No peasant sought that Hermit's prayer, 

His cave the pilgrim shunned with care; 

The eager huntsman knew his bound, 85 

And in mid chase called off his hound; 

Or if, in lonely glen or strath. 

The desert-dweller met his path. 

He prayed, and signed the cross between. 

While terror took devotion's mien. 90 



V 

Of Brian's birth strange tales were told. 

His mother watched a midnight fold, 

Built deep within a dreary glen. 

Where scattered lay the bones of men 

In some forgotten battle slain, 95 

And bleached by drifting wind and rain. 

It might have tamed a warrior's heart 

To view such mockery of his art ! 

The knot-grass fettered there the hand 

Which once could burst an iron band ; 100 

Beneath the broad and ample bone. 

That bucklered heart to fear unknown, 

81. Hallowed creed. The hallowed or Christian creed as distin- 
guished from heathen lore or knowledge. 

87. Glen. A narrow valley through which a small stream usually 
■flows. — Strath. A valley of considerable size through which a river runs. 



8o THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto hi 

A feeble and a timorous guest, 

The fieldfare framed her lowly nest ; 

There the slow blindworm left his slime 105 

On the fleet limbs that mocked at time; 

And there, too, lay the leader's skull. 

Still wreathed with chaplet, flushed and full, 

For heath-bell with her purple bloom 

Supplied the bonnet and the plume. no 

All night, in this sad glen, the maid 

Sat shrouded in her mantle's shade: 

She said no shepherd sought her side, 

No hunter's hand her snood untied. 

Yet ne'er again to braid her hair 115 

The virgin snood did Alice wear; 

Gone was her maiden glee and sport. 

Her maiden girdle all too short. 

Nor sought she, from that fatal night, 

Or holy church or blessed rite, 120 

But locked her secret in her breast. 

And died in travail, unconfessed. 



VI 

Alone, among his young compeers, 

Was Brian from his infant years; 

A moody and heart-broken boy, 125 

Estranged from sympathy and joy, 

1 16. Snood. The snood, or riband, with which a Scottish lass braided 
her hair, had an emblematical signification, and applied to her maiden 
character. It was exchanged for the curch, toy, or coif, when she passed, 
by marriage, into the matron state. — Scott. 



CANTO m THE GATHERING 8l 

Bearing each taunt which careless tongue 

On his mysterious hneage flung. 

Whole nights he spent by moonlight pale, 

To wood and stream his hap to wail, 130 

Till, frantic, he as truth received 

What of his birth the crowd believed, 

And sought, in mist and meteor fire. 

To meet and know his Phantom Sire ! 

In vain, to soothe his wayward fate, 135 

The cloister oped her pitying gate ; 

In vain the learning of the age 

Unclasped the sable-lettered page; 

Even in its treasures he could find 

Food for the fever of his mind. 140 

Eager he read whatever tells 

Of magic, cabala, and spells. 

And every dark pursuit allied 

To curious and presumptuous pride; 

Till with fired brain and nerves o'erstrung, 145 

And heart with mystic horrors wrung. 

Desperate he sought Benharrow's den. 

And hid him from the haunts of men. 



VII 

The desert gave him visions wild, 

Such as might suit the specter's child. 150 

138. Sable-lettered page. Black lettered, so called because of the 
heavy-faced type used in early prints. 

142. Cabala. A Hebrew word signifying a method of finding con- 
cealed meanings, often prophetic, in passages of Scripture. 



82 THE LADY OF THE LAKE 



CANTO III 



Where with black cliffs the torrents toil, 

He watched the wheeling eddies boil, 

Till from their foam his dazzled eyes 

Beheld the River Demon rise : 

The mountain mist took form and limb 155 

Of noontide hag or goblin grim ; 

The midnight wind came wild and dread. 

Swelled with the voices of the dead ; 

Far on the future battle-heath 

His eye beheld the ranks of death : 160 

Thus the lone Seer, from mankind hurled, 

Shaped forth a disembodied world. 

One lingering sympathy of mind 

Still bound him to the mortal kind; 

The only parent he could claim 165 

Of ancient Alpine's lineage came. 

Late had he heard, in prophet's dream, 

The fatal Ben-Shie's boding scream ; 

Sounds, too, had come in midnight blast 

Of charging steeds, careering fast 170 

1 54. River Demon. The river demon, or river horse, for it is that 
form which he commonly assumes, is the Kelpy of the Lowlands, an 
evil and malicious spirit, delighting to forebode and to witness calamity. 
— Scott. 

168. Ben-Shie. Most great families in the Highlands were supposed 
to have a tutelar, or rather a domestic spirit, attached to them, who 
took an interest in their prosperity and intimated by its wailings any 
approaching disaster. Ben-Shie implies a female fairy, whose lamen- 
tations were often supposed to precede the death of a chieftain of 
particular families. — Scott. 

169. Sounds, too, had come. A presage of the kind alluded to in the 
text is still believed to announce death to the ancient Highland family 
of M'Lean of Loch Buy. The spirit of an ancestor slain in battle is 



CANTO III 



THE GATHERING 83 



Along Benharrow's shingly side, 

Where mortal horseman ne'er might ride; 

The thunderbolt had split the pine, — 

All augured ill to Alpine's line. 

He girt his loins, and came to show 175 

The signals of impending woe. 

And now stood prompt to bless or ban. 

As bade the Chieftain of his clan. 



VIII 

'T was all prepared ; — and from the rock 

A goat, the patriarch of the flock, 180 

Before the kindling pile was laid, 

And pierced by Roderick's ready blade. 

Patient the sickening victim eyed 

The life-blood ebb in crimson tide 

Down his clogged beard and shaggy limb, 185 

Till darkness glazed his eyeballs dim. 

The grisly priest, with murmuring prayer, 

A slender crosslet framed with care, 

A cubit's length in measure due; 

The shaft and limbs were rods of yew, 190 

heard to gallop along a stony bank, and then to ride thrice around 
the family residence, ringing his fairy bridle, and thus intimating the 
approaching calamity. How easily the eye as well as the ear may be 
deceived upon such occasions, is evident from the stories of armies in 
the air, and other spectral phenomena with which history abounds. — 
Scott. 

171. Shingly, Gravelly. 

177. Ban. To curse. 

188. Crosslet. A little cross. 



84 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto hi 

Whose parents in Inch-Cailliach wave 

Their shadows o'er Clan-Alpine's grave, 

And, answering Lomond's breezes deep. 

Soothe many a Chieftain's endless sleep. 

The Cross thus formed he held on high, 195 

With wasted hand and haggard eye, 

And strange and mingled feelings woke. 

While his anathema he spoke : — 

IX 

" Woe to the clansman who shall view 

This symbol of sepulchral yew, 200 

Forgetful that its branches grew 

Where weep the heavens their holiest dew 

On Alpine's dwelling low ! 
Deserter of his Chieftain's trust. 
He ne'er shall mingle with their dust, 205 

But, from his sires and kindred thrust. 
Each clansman's execration just 

Shall doom him wrath and woe." 

191. Inch-Cailliach. The Isle of Nuns, or of Old Women, is a most 
beautiful island at the lower extremity of Loch Lomond. The church 
belonging to the former nunnery was long used as the place of worship 
for the parish of Buchanan, but scarce any vestiges of it now remain. 
The burial ground continues to be used, and contains the family places 
of sepulture of several neighboring clans. The monuments of the lairds 
of MacGregor, and of other families, claiming a descent from the old 
Scottish King Alpine, are most remarkable. The Highlanders are as 
zealous of their rights of sepulture as may be expected from a people 
whose whole laws and government, if clanship can be called so, turned 
upon the single principle of family descent. — Scott. 

198. Anathema. A ban or curse pronounced by the Church. 

200. Sepulchral yew. Yew trees were often planted in graveyards. 



CANTO III THE GATHERING 85 

He paused ; — the word the vassals took. 

With forward step and fiery look, 210 

On high their naked brands they shook, 

Their clattering targets wildly strook; 

And first in murmur low, 
Then, like the billow in his course. 
That far to seaward finds his source, 215 

And flings to shore his mustered force, 
Burst with loud roar their answer hoarse, 

" Woe to the traitor, woe ! " 
Ben-an's gray scalp the accents knew. 
The joyous wolf from covert drew, 220 

The exulting eagle screamed afar, — 
They knew the voice of Alpine's war. 

X 

The shout was hushed on lake and fell, 

The Monk resumed his muttered spell: 

Dismal and low its accents came, 225 

The while he scathed the Cross with flame ; 

And the few words that reached the air. 

Although the holiest name was there, • 

Had more of blasphemy than prayer. 

But when he shook above the crowd 230 

Its kindled points, he spoke aloud : — 

'* Woe to the wretch who fails to rear 

At this dread sign the ready spear ! 

212. strook. Old form of struck. 
2 1 9. Ben-an's gray scalp. Bare top. 
226. Scathed. Charred. 



S6 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto hi 

For, as the flames this symbol sear, 

His home, the refuge of his fear, 235 

A kindred fate shall know ; 
Far o'er its roof the volumed flame 
Clan-Alpine's vengeance shall proclaim. 
While maids and matrons on his name 
Shall call down wretchedness and shame, 240 

And infamy and woe." 
Then rose the cry of females, shrill 
As goshawk's whistle on the hill. 
Denouncing misery and ill, 
Mingled with childhood's babbling trill 245 

Of curses stammered slow; 
Answering with imprecation dread, 
" Sunk be his home in embers red ! 
And cursed be the meanest shed 
That e'er shall hide the houseless head 250 

We doom to want and woe ! " 
A sharp and shrieking echo gave, 
Coir-Uriskin, thy goblin cave ! 
And the gray pass where birches wave 

On Beala-nam-bo. 255 

243. Goshawk. A slender brown hawk with white breast. 

253. Coir-Uriskin, or Coir-nan-Uriskin ("the corry, or den, of the 
wild men "), a hollow cleft in the northern side of Benvenue, supposed 
to be haunted by fairies and evil spirits. It is surrounded by rocks and 
overshadowed by birch trees, so as to give complete shelter. The Urisk 
is the equivalent of the Grecian Satyr, having a human form with goat's 
feet. —Taylor. 

255. Beala-nam-bo, or the pass of cattle, is a most magnificent glade, 
overhung with aged birch trees, a little higher up the mountain than the 
Coir-nan-Uriskin, — Scott, 



CANTO III THE GATHERING d)"/ 

XI 

Then deeper paused the priest anew, 

And hard his laboring breath he drew, 

While, with set teeth and clenched hand. 

And eyes that glowed like fiery brand. 

He meditated curse more dread, 260 

And deadlier, on the clansman's head 

Who, summoned to his Chieftain's aid, 

The signal saw and disobeyed. 

The crosslet's points of sparkling wood 

He quenched among the bubbling blood, 265 

And, as again the sign he reared. 

Hollow and hoarse his voice was heard : 

*' When flits this Cross from man to man, 

Vich- Alpine's summons to his clan, 

Burst be the ear that fails to heed ! 270 

Palsied the foot that shuns to speed ! 

May ravens tear the careless eyes. 

Wolves make the coward heart their prize ! 

As sinks that blood-stream in the earth. 

So may his heart's-blood drench his hearth ! 275 

As dies in hissing gore the spark, 

Quench thou his light, Destruction dark ! 

And be the grace to him denied, 

Bought by this sign to all beside ! " 

He ceased ; no echo gave again 280 

The murmur of the deep Amen. 



88 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto hi 

XII 

Then Roderick with impatient look 

From Brian's hand the symbol took: 

•' Speed, Malise, speed ! " he said, and gave 

The crosslet to his henchman brave. 285 

*'The muster-place be Lanrick mead — 

Instant the time — speed, Malise, speed ! " 

Like heath-bird, when the hawks pursue, 

A barge across Loch Katrine flew: 

High stood the henchman on the prow; 290 

So rapidly the barge-men row, 

The bubbles, where they launched the boat, 

Were all unbroken and afloat, 

Dancing in foam and ripple still. 

When it had neared the mainland hill; 295 

And from the silver beach's side 

Still was the prow three fathom wide, 

When lightly bounded to the land 

The messenger of blood and brand. 

XIII 

Speed, Malise, speed ! the dun deer's hide 300 

On fleeter foot was never tied. 

Speed, Malise, speed ! such cause of haste 

Thine active sinews never braced. 

Bend 'gainst the steepy hill thy breast. 

Burst down like torrent from its crest; 305 

286. Lanrick mead. A meadow bordering on Loch Vennachar. 
300. Dun deer's hide. The ancient buskin of the Highlander was 
made of the undressed deer's hide, with the hair outwards. 



CANTO III THE GATHERING 89 

With short and springing footstep pass 

The trembling bog and false morass ; 

Across the brook like roebuck bound, 

And thread the brake like questing hound ; 

The crag is high, the scaur is deep, 310 

Yet shrink not from the desperate leap: 

Parched are thy burning lips and brow, 

Yet by the fountain pause not now ; 

Herald of battle, fate, and fear. 

Stretch onward in thy fleet career ! 315 

The wounded hind thou track'st not now, 

Pursuest not maid through greenwood bough. 

Nor pliest thou now thy flying pace 

With rivals in the mountain race ; 

But danger, death, and warrior deed 320 

Are in thy course — speed, Malise, speed ! 

XIV 

Fast as the fatal symbol flies, 

In arms the huts and hamlets rise; 

From winding glen, from upland brown, 

They poured each hardy tenant down. 325 

Nor slacked the messenger his pace ; 

He showed the sign, he named the place, 

And, pressing forward like the wind. 

Left clamor and surprise behind. 

The fisherman forsook the strand, 330 

The swarthy smith took dirk and brand ; 

309. Questing. Hunting. 

310. Scaur (skar). Steep bank ; cliff. 



90 ' THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto hi 

With changed cheer, the mower bUthe 

Left in the half-cut swath his scythe ; 

The herds without a keeper strayed, 

The plow was in mid-furrow stayed, 335 

The falconer tossed his hawk away, 

The hunter left the stag at bay; 

Prompt at the signal of alarms. 

Each son of Alpine rushed to arms; 

So swept the tumult and affray 340 

Along the margin of Achray. 

Alas, thou lovely lake ! that e'er 

Thy banks should echo sounds of fear ! 

The rocks, the bosky thickets, sleep 

So stilly on thy bosom deep, 345 

The lark's blithe carol from the cloud 

Seems for the scene too gayly loud. 

XV 

Speed, Malise, speed ! The lake is past, 

Duncraggan's huts appear at last. 

And peep, like moss-grown rocks, half seen, 350 

Half hidden in the copse so green ; 

There mayst thou rest, thy labor done, 

Their lord shall speed the signal on. — 

As stoops the hawk upon his prey, 

The henchman shot him down the way. 355 

What woeful accents load the gale ? 

The funeral yell, the female wail ! 

344. Bosky. Woody or bushy. 

349. Duncraggan. A homestead near the Brigg of Turk. 



CANTO III THE GATHERING 91 

A gallant hunter's sport is o'er, 

A valiant warrior fights no more. 

Who, in the battle or the chase, 360 

At Roderick's side shall fill his place ! — 

Within the hall, where torch's ray 

Supplies the excluded beams of day, 

Lies Duncan on his lowly bier, 

And o'er him streams his widow's tear. 365 

His stripling son stands mournful by, 

His youngest weeps, but knows not why ; 

The village maids and matrons round 

The dismal coronach resound. 

XVI 

Coronacb 

He is gone on the mountain, 370 

He is lost to the forest. 
Like a summer-dried fountain. 

When our need was the sorest. 
The font, reappearing. 

From the raindrops shall borrow, 375 

But to us comes no cheering. 

To Duncan no morrow ! 

The hand of the reaper 

Takes the ears that are hoary, 

369. Coronach. The Coronach of the Highlanders was a wild expres- 
sion of lamentation, poured forth by the mourners over the body of a 
departed friend. When the words of it were articulate, they expressed 
the praises of the deceased, and the loss the clan would sustain by his 
death. — Scott. 



92 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto hi 

But the voice of the weeper 380 

Wails manhood in glory. 
The autumn winds rushing 

Waft the leaves that are searest, 
But our flower was in flushing, 

When blighting was nearest. 385 

Fleet foot on the correi, 

Sage counsel in cumber, 
Red hand in the foray. 

How sound is thy slumber ! 
Like the dew on the mountain, 390 

Like the foam on the river, 
Like the bubble on the fountain, 

Thou art gone, and forever ! 

xvn 

See Stumah, who, the bier beside, 

His master's corpse with wonder eyed, 395 

Poor Stumah ! whom his least halloo 

Could send like lightning o'er the dew. 

Bristles his crest, and points his ears. 

As if some stranger step he hears. 

'Tis not a mourner's. muffled tread, 400 

Who comes to sorrow o'er the dead, 

But headlong haste or deadly fear 

Urge the precipitate career. 

384. Flushing. Full bloom. 

386. Correi. The hollow side of the hill, where game usually lies. 

387. Cumber. Trouble, perplexity. 

394. Stumah. Faithful ; the name of a dog. 



CANTO III THE GATHERING 



93 



All stand aghast : — unheeding all, 

The henchman bursts into the hall ; 405 

Before the dead man's bier he stood, 

Held forth the Cross besmeared with blood ; 

" The muster-place is Lanrick mead ; 

Speed forth the signal ! clansmen, speed ! " 

xvni 

Angus, the heir of Duncan's line, 410 

Sprung forth and seized the fatal sign. 

In haste the stripling to his side 

His father's dirk and broadsword tied; 

But when he saw his mother's eye 

Watch him in speechless agony, 415 

Back to her opened arms he flew, 

Pressed on her lips a fond adieu, — 

" Alas ! " she sobbed, — " and yet be gone. 

And speed thee forth, like Duncan's son ! " 

One look he cast upon the bier, 420 

Dashed from his eye the gathering tear. 

Breathed deep to clear his laboring breast. 

And tossed aloft his bonnet crest. 

Then, like the high-bred colt when, freed. 

First he essays his fire and speed, 425 

He vanished, and o'er moor and moss 

Sped forward with the Fiery Cross. 

Suspended was the widow's tear 

While yet his footsteps she could hear; 

And when she marked the henchman's eye 430 

Wet with unwonted sympathy. 



94 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto hi 

"Kinsman," she said, ''his race is run 

That should have sped thine errand on ; 

The oak has fallen, — the sapling bough 

Is all Duncraggan's shelter now. 435 

Yet trust I well, his duty done. 

The orphan's God will guard my son. — 

And you, in many a danger true, 

At Duncan's hest your blades that drew. 

To arms, and guard that orphan's head ! 440 

Let babes and women wail the dead." 

Then weapon-clang and martial call 

Resounded through the funeral hall, 

While from the walls the attendant band 

Snatched sword and targe with hurried hand ; 445 

And short and flitting energy 

Glanced from the mourner's sunken eye, 

As if the sounds to warrior dear 

Might rouse her Duncan from his bier. 

But faded soon that borrowed force ; 450 

Grief claimed his right, and tears their course. 



XIX 

Benledi saw the Cross of Fire, 

It glanced like lightning up Strath- Ire. 

439. Hest. Behest; command. 

445. Targe. Shield. 

453. Strath-Ire. The first stage of the Fiery Cross is to Duncrag- 
gan, a place near the Brigg of Turk, where a short stream divides Loch 
Achray from Loch Vennachar. From thence it passes towards Callan- 
der, and then, turning to the left up the pass of Leny, is consigned to 



CANTO III THE GATHERING 



95 



O'er dale and hill the summons flew, 

Nor rest nor pause young Angus knew; 455 

The tear that gathered in his eye 

He left the mountain-breeze to dry; 

Until, where Teith's young waters roll 

Betwixt him and a wooded knoll 

That graced the sable strath with green, 460 

The chapel of Saint Bride was seen. 

Swoln was the stream, remote the bridge. 

But Angus paused not on the edge; 

Though the dark waves danced dizzily, 

Though reeled his sympathetic eye, 465 

He dashed amid the torrent's roar: 

His right hand high the crosslet bore, 

His left the pole-ax grasped, to guide 

And stay his footing in the tide. 

He stumbled twice, — the foam splashed high, 470 

With hoarser swell the stream raced by ; 

And had he fallen, — forever there, 

Farewell Duncraggan's orphan heir ! 

But still, as if in parting life, 

Firmer he grasped the Cross of strife, 475 

Until the opposing bank he gained. 

And up the chapel pathway strained. 

Norman at the chapel of Saint Bride, which stood on a small and roman- 
tic knoll in the middle of the valley called Strath-Ire. Tombea and 
Amandave, or Ardmandave, are names of places in the vicinity. The 
alarm is then supposed to pass along the lake of Lubnaig, and through 
the various glens in the district of Balquidder, including the neighboring 
tracts of Glenfinlas and Strath-Gartney. — Scott. 
468. Pole-ax. A kind of long-handled hatchet. 



96 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto hi 

XX 

A blithesome rout that morning-tide 

Had sought the chapel of Saint Bride. 

Her troth Tombea's Mary gave 480 

To Norman, heir of Armandave, 

And, issuing from the Gothic arch, 

The bridal now resumed their march. 

In rude but glad procession came 

Bonneted sire and coif-clad dame ; 485 

And plaided youth, with jest and jeer. 

Which snooded maiden would not hear; 

And children, that, unwitting why. 

Lent the gay shout their shrilly cry; 

And minstrels, that in measures vied 490 

Before the young and bonny bride. 

Whose downcast eye and cheek disclose 

The tear and blush of morning rose. 

With virgin step and bashful hand 

She held the kerchief's snowy band. 495 

The gallant bridegroom by her side 

Beheld his prize with victor's pride. 

And the glad mother in her ear 

Was closely whispering' word of cheer. 

XXI 

Who meets them at the churchyard gate ? 500 

The messenger of fear and fate ! 
Haste in his hurried accent lies. 
And grief is swimming in his eyes. 

485, 495. Coif, kerchief. See note, Canto III, line ii6. 



CANTO III THE GATHERING 



97 



All dripping from the recent flood, 

Panting and travel-soiled he stood, 505 

The fatal sign of fire and sword 

Held forth, and spoke the appointed word: 

"The muster-place is Lanrick mead; 

Speed forth the signal ! Norman, speed ! " 

And must he change so soon the hand 510 

Just linked to his by holy band, 

F^or the fell Cross of blood and brand ? 

And must the day so blithe that rose, 

And promised rapture in the close. 

Before its setting hour, divide 515 

The bridegroom from the plighted bride ? 

O fatal doom ! — it must ! it must ! 

Clan-Alpine's cause, her Chieftain's trust, 

Her sunmions dread, brook no delay ; 

Stretch to the race, — away ! away ! 520 

XXII 
Yet slow he laid his plaid aside. 
And lingering eyed his lovely bride, 
Until he saw the starting tear 
Speak woe he might not stop to cheer; 
Then, trusting not a second look, 525 

In haste he sped him up the brook. 
Nor backward glanced till on the heath 
Where Lubnaig's lake supplies the Teith. — 
What in the racer's bosom stirred ? 
The sickening pang of hope deferred, 530 

528. Lubnaig. " The lake of small bends," lying east of Ben Ledi. 



98 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto hi 

* 
And memory with a torturing train 

Of all his morning visions vain. 

Mingled with love's impatience, came 

The manly thirst for martial fame ; 

The stormy joy of mountaineers 535 

Ere yet they rush upon the spears ; 

And zeal for Clan and Chieftain burning, 

And hope, from well-fought field returning, 

With war's red honors on his crest. 

To clasp his Mary to his breast. 540 

Stung by such thoughts, o'er bank and brae, 

Like fire from flint he glanced away. 

While high resolve and feeling strong 

Burst into voluntary song. 

XXIII 

The heath this night must be my bed, 545 

The bracken curtain for my head. 
My lullaby the warder's tread, 

Far, far, from love and thee, Mary; 
To-morrow eve, more stilly laid, 
My couch may be my bloody plaid, 550 

My vesper song thy wail, sweet maid ! 

It will not waken me, Mary ! 

I may not, dare not, fancy now 

The grief that clouds thy lovely brow, 

546. Bracken. Fern. 



CANTO III THE GATHERING 



99 

555 



I dare not think upon thy vow, 

And all it promised me, Mary. 
No fond regret must Norman know ; 
When bursts Clan-Alpine on the foe. 
His heart must be like bended bow, 

His foot like arrow free, Mary. 560 

A time will come with feeling fraught, 
For, if I fall in battle fought. 
Thy hapless lover's dying thought 

Shall be a thought on thee, Mary. 
And if returned from conquered foes, 565 

How blithely will the evening close, 
How sweet the linnet sing repose. 

To my young bride and me, Mary ! 

XXIV 

Not faster o'er thy heathery braes, 

Balquidder, speeds the midnight blaze, 570 

Rushing in conflagration strong 

Thy deep ravines and dells along. 

Wrapping thy cliffs in purple glow. 

And reddening the dark lakes below; 

Nor faster speeds it, nor so far, 575 

As o'er thy heaths the voice of war. 

570. Midnight blaze. The heath on the Scottish moorlands is often 
set fire to, that the sheep may have the advantage of the young herbage 
produced, in room of the tough old heather plants. This custom (exe- 
crated by sportsmen) produces occasionally the most beautiful nocturnal 
appearances, similar almost to the discharge of a volcano. — Scott. 

LcfC. 



lOO THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto hi 

The signal roused to martial coil 

The sullen margin of Loch Voil, 

Waked still Loch Doine, and to the source 

Alarmed, Balvaig, thy swampy course ; 580 

Thence southward turned its rapid road 

Adown Strath-Gartney's valley broad, 

Till rose in arms each man might claim 

A portion of Clan- Alpine's name, 

From the gray sire, whose trembling hand 585 

Could hardly buckle on his brand, 

To the raw boy, whose shaft and bow 

Were yet scarce terror to the crow. 

Each valley, each sequestered glen, 

Mustered its little horde of men, 590 

That met as torrents from the height 

In Highland dales their streams unite. 

Still gathering, as they pour along, 

A voice more loud, a tide more strong. 

Till at the rendezvous they stood 595 

By hundreds prompt for blows and blood, 

Each trained to arms since life began. 

Owning no tie but to his clan. 

No oath but by his Chieftain's hand. 

No law but Roderick Dhu's command. 600 

577. Coil. Tumult, confusion 

580. Balvaig. River flowing from Lochs Voil and Doine into Lubnaig. 

582. Strath-Gartney. Valley bordering on Loch Katrine. 

599. By his Chieftain's hand. The deep and implicit respect paid 
by the Highland clansmen to their chief rendered this both a common 
and a solemn oath. In other respects they were like most savage 
nations, capricious in their ideas concerning the obligatory power of 
oaths. — Scott. 



CANTO III THE GATHERING lOI 

XXV 

That summer morn had Roderick Dhu 

Surveyed the skirts of Benvenue, 

And sent his scouts o'er hill and heath, 

To view the frontiers of Menteith. 

All backward came with news of truce ; 605 

Still lay each martial Graeme and Bruce, 

In Rednock courts no horsemen wait. 

No banner waved on Cardross gate. 

On Duchray's towers no beacon shone. 

Nor scared the herons from Loch Con ; 610 

All seemed at peace. — Now wot ye why 

The Chieftain with such anxious eye. 

Ere to the muster he repair, 

This western frontier scanned with care ? — 

In Benvenue's most darksome cleft, 615 

A fair though cruel pledge was left ; 

For Douglas, to his promise true. 

That morning from the isle withdrew, 

And in a deep sequestered dell 

Had sought a low and lonely cell. 620 

By many a bard in Celtic tongue 

Has Coir-nan-Uriskin been sung; 

A softer name the Saxons gave. 

And called the grot the Goblin Cave. 

606. Graeme. See note, Canto II, line 109. — Bruce. A family 
illustrious in Scottish history. 

607-609. Rednock, Cardross, Duchray. Castles. 

610. Loch Con. "Lake of the dogs," lying between Benvenue and 
Ben Lomond. 

622. Coir-nan-Uriskin. See note, Canto III, line 253. 



102 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto hi 

XXVI 

It was a wild and strange retreat, 625 

As e'er was trod by outlaw's feet. 

The dell, upon the mountain's crest, 

Yawned like a gash on warrior's breast; 

Its trench had stayed full many a rock, 

Hurled by primeval earthquake shock 630 

From Benvenue's gray summit wild, 

And here, in random ruin piled. 

They frowned incumbent o'er the spot, 

And formed the rugged sylvan grot. 

The oak and birch with mingled shade 635 

At noontide there a twilight made. 

Unless when short and sudden shone 

Some straggling beam on cliff or stone, 

With such a glimpse as prophet's eye 

Gains on thy depth, Futurity. 640 

No murmur waked the solemn still. 

Save tinkling of a fountain rill ; 

But when the wind chafed with the lake, 

A sullen sound would upward break. 

With dashing hollow voice, that spoke 645 

The incessant war of wave and rock. 

Suspended cliffs with hideous sway 

Seemed nodding o'er the cavern gray. 

From such a den the wolf had sprung, 

In such a wild-cat leaves her young; 650 

Yet Douglas and his daughter fair 

Sought for a space their safety there. 

633. Incumbent. Lying upon or overhanging. 



CANTO III THE GATHERING 103 

Gray Superstition's whisper dread 

Debarred the spot to vulgar tread ; 

For there, she said, did fays resort, 655 

And satyrs hold their sylvan court. 

By moonlight tread their mystic maze, 

And blast the rash beholder's gaze. 

XXVII 

Now eve, with western shadows long. 

Floated on Katrine bright and strong, 660 

When Roderick with a chosen few 

Repassed the heights of Benvenue. 

Above the Goblin Cave they go. 

Through the wild pass of Beal-nam-bo; 

The prompt retainers speed before, 665 

To launch the shallop from the shore, 

For 'cross Loch Katrine lies his way 

To view the passes of Achray, 

And place his clansmen in array. 

Yet lags the Chief in musing mind, 670 

Unwonted sight, his men behind. 

A single page, to bear his sword. 

Alone attended on his lord; 

The rest their way through thickets break. 

And soon await him by the lake. 675 

656. Satyr (sa'ter). See note, Canto III, line 253. 

672. Single page. A Highland chief, being as absolute in his 
authority as any prince, had a corresponding number of officers attached 
to his person : (i) the henchman; (2) the bard; (3) bladier, or spokes- 
man; (4) gillie-more, or sword bearer ; and so on. There were five more, 
including the piper and his attendant. — ScoTT. 



104 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto hi 

It vv^as a fair and gallant sight, 

To view them from the neighboring height, 

By the low-leveled sunbeam's light ! 

For strength and stature, from the clan 

Each warrior was a chosen man, 680 

As even afar might well be seen. 

By their proud step and martial mien. 

Their feathers dance, their tartans float. 

Their targets gleam, as by the boat 

A wild and warlike group they stand, 685 

That well became such mountain-strand. 



XXVIII 

Their Chief with step reluctant still 

Was lingering on the craggy hill, 

Hard by where turned apart the road 

To Douglas's obscure abode. 690 

It was but with that dawning morn 

That Roderick Dhu had proudly sworn 

To drown his love in war's wild roar, 

Nor think of Ellen Douglas more ; 

But he who stems a stream with sand, 695 

And fetters flame with flaxen band. 

Has yet a harder task to prove, — 

By firm resolve to conquer love ! 

Eve finds the Chief, like restless ghost. 

Still hovering near his treasure lost ; 700 

For though his haughty heart deny 

A parting meeting to his eye, 



CANTO III THE GATHERING 



105 



Still fondly strains his anxious ear 

The accents of her voice to hear, 

And inly did he curse the breeze 705 

That waked to sound the rustling trees. 

But hark ! what mingles in the strain ? 

It is the harp of Allan-bane, 

That wakes its measure slow and high, 

Attuned to sacred minstrelsy. 710 

What melting voice attends the strings ? 

'T is Ellen, or an angel, sings. 



XXIX 

|)pmn t0 tl)e ^ivsin 

Ave Maria! maiden mild! 

Listen to a maiden's prayer ! 
Thou canst hear though from the wild, 

Thou canst save amidst despair. 
Safe may we sleep beneath thy care, 

Though banished, outcast, and reviled — 
Maiden ! hear a maiden's prayer ; 

Mother, hear a suppliant child ! 720 

Ave Maria! 



715 



Ave Mafia! undefiled ! 

The flinty couch we now must share 
Shall seem with down of eider piled, 

If thy protection hover there. 

713- Ave Maria ! Hail, Mary ! The beginning of the Roman Cath- 
olic prayer to the Virgin Mary. 



Io6 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto hi 

The murky cavern's heavy air 725 

Shall breathe of balm if thou hast smiled; 

Then, Maiden ! hear a maiden's prayer, 
Mother, list a suppliant child ! 

Ave Maria ! 

Ave Maria! stainless styled ! 

Foul demons of the earth and air, 730 

From this their wonted haunt exiled, 

Shall flee before thy presence fair. 
We bow us to our lot of care. 

Beneath thy guidance reconciled: 
Hear for a maid a maiden's prayer, 735 

And for a father hear a child ! 

Ave Maria ! 

XXX 

Died on the harp the closing hymn, — 

Unmoved in attitude and limb, 

As listening still, Clan-Alpine's lord 

Stood leaning on his heavy sword, 740 

Until the page with humble sign 

Twice pointed to the sun's decline. 

Then while his plaid he round him cast, 

'' It is the last time — 't is the last," 

He muttered thrice, — " the last time e'er 745 

That angel-voice shall Roderick hear ! " 

It was a goading thought, — his stride 

Hied hastier down the mountain-side; 

Sullen he flung him in the boat. 

An instant 'cross the lake it shot. 750 



CANTO III THE GATHERING 107 

They landed in that silvery bay, 

And eastward held their hasty way, 

Till, with the latest beams of light. 

The band arrived on Lanrick height, 

Where mustered in the vale below 755 

Clan-Alpine's men in martial show. 

XXXI 

A various scene the clansmen made: 

Some sat, some stood, some slowly strayed; 

But most, with mantles folded round, 

Were couched to rest upon the ground, 760 

Scarce to be known by curious eye 

From the deep heather where they lie, 

So well was matched the tartan screen 

With heath-bell dark and brackens green; 

Unless where, here and there, a blade 765 

Or lance's point a glimmer made. 

Like glow-worm twinkling through the shade. 

But when, advancing through the gloom, 

They saw the Chieftain's eagle plume, 

Their shout of welcome, shrill and wide, 770 

Shook the steep mountain's steady side. 

Thrice it arose, and lake and fell 

Three times returned the martial yell; 

It died upon Bochastle's plain, 

And Silence claimed her evening reign. 775 



Canto Fourth 



THE PROPHECY 



" The rose is fairest when 't is budding new, 

And hope is brightest when it dawns from fears ; 
The rose is sweetest washed with morning dew, 

And love is lovehest when embalmed in tears. 
O wilding rose, whom fancy thus endears, 

I bid your blossoms in my bonnet wave, 
Emblem of hope and love through future years ! " 

Thus spoke young Norman, heir of Armandave, 
What time the sun arose on Vennachar's broad wave. 

II 

Such fond conceit, half said, half sung, 
Love prompted to the bridegroom's tongue. 
All while he stripped the wild-rose spray, 
His ax and bow beside him lay. 
For on a pass 'twixt lake and wood 
A wakeful sentinel he stood. 
Hark ! — on the rock a footstep rung, 
And instant to his arms he sprung. 

lo. Conceit. Fancy; anticipation. 
1 08 



CANTO IV THE PROPHECY IO9 

*' Stand, or thou diest ! — What, Malise ? — soon 

Art thou returned from Braes of Doune. 

By thy keen step and glance I know, 20 

Thou bring'st us tidings of the foe." — 

For while the Fiery Cross hied on, 

On distant scout had Malise gone. — 

"Where sleeps the Chief.?" the henchman said. 

'' Apart, in yonder misty glade ; 25 

To his lone couch I '11 be your guide." — 

Then called a slumberer by his side. 

And stirred him with his slackened bow, — 

"Up, up, Glentarkin ! rouse thee,' ho! 

We seek the Chieftain ; on the track 30 

Keep eagle watch till I come back." 

Ill 

Together up the pass they sped : 
'' What of the foeman } " Norman said. — 
** Varying reports from near and far ; 
This certain, — that a band of war 35 

Has for two days been ready boune. 
At prompt command to march from Doune ; 
King James the while, with princely powers. 
Holds revelry in Stirling towers. 
Soon will this dark and gathering cloud 40 

Speak on our glens in thunder loud. 
• Inured to bide such bitter bout. 
The warrior's plaid may bear it out ; 

19. Braes of Doune. Hill slopes on the north side of the Teith, near 
Doune Castle. 36. Boune. Prepared. 



no THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto iv 

But, Norman, how wilt thou provide 

A shelter for thy bonny bride ? " — 45 

" What ! know ye not that Roderick's care 

To the lone isle hath caused repair 

Each maid and matron of the clan. 

And every child and aged man 

Unfit for arms ; and given his charge, 50 

Nor skiff, nor shallop, boat nor barge. 

Upon these lakes shall float at large, 

But all beside the islet moor, 

That such dear pledge may rest secure ? " — 

IV 

" 'T is well advised, — the Chieftain's plan 55 

Bespeaks the father of his clan. 

But wherefore sleeps Sir Roderick Dhu 

Apart from all his followers true ? " 

" It is because last evening-tide 

Brian an augury hath tried, 60 

Of that dread kind which must not be 

Unless in dread extremity. 

The Taghairm called ; by which, afar, 

Our sires foresaw the events of war. 

Duncraggan's milk-white bull they slew. " — 65 

63. Taghairm. The Highlanders, like all rude people, had Various 
superstitious modes of inquiring into futurity. One of the most noted 
was the Taghairm mentioned in the text. A person was wrapped up 
in the skin of a newly slain bullock, and deposited beside a waterfall or 
at the bottom of a precipice or in some other strange, wild, and unusual 
situation, where the scenery around him suggested nothing but objects 
of horror. In this situation he revolved in his mind the question 



CANTO IV THE PROPHECY III 

MALISE 

"Ah ! well the gallant brute I knew ! 

The choicest of the prey we had 

When swept our merrymen Gallangad. 

His hide was snow, his horns were dark, 

His red eye glowed like fiery spark ; 70 

So fierce, so tameless, and so fleet, 

Sore did he cumber our retreat. 

And kept our stoutest kerns in awe, 

Even at the pass of Beal 'maha. 

But steep and flinty was the road, 75 

And sharp the hurrying pikeman's goad, 

And when we came to Dennan's Row 

A child might scathless stroke his brow." 



NORMAN 

" That bull was slain ; his reeking hide 

They stretched the cataract beside, 80 

Whose waters their wild tumult toss 

Adown the black and craggy boss 

proposed, and v/hatever was impressed upon him by his exalted imagi- 
nation passed for the inspiration of the disembodied spirits who haunt 
the desolate recesses. — Scott. 

68. Gallangad. Near Loch Lomond. 

73. Kerns. Foot soldiers of the lowest rank. 

74. Beal 'maha. " The pass of the plain," on the east of Loch 
Lomond. 

77. Dennan's Row. A starting place for ascending Ben Lomond. 
82. Boss. A protuberance. 



112 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto iv 

Of that huge cliff whose ample verge 

Tradition calls the Hero's Targe. 

Couched on a shelf beneath its brink, 85 

Close where the thundering torrents sink, 

Rocking beneath their headlong sway, 

And drizzled by the ceaseless spray, 

Midst groan of rock and roar of stream. 

The wizard waits prophetic dream. 90 

Nor distant rests the Chief ; — but hush ! 

See, gliding slow through mist and bush, 

The hermit gains yon rock, and stands 

To gaze upon our slumbering bands. 

Seems he not, Malise, Hke a ghost, 95 

That hovers o'er a slaughtered host.** 

Or raven on the blasted oak, 

That, watching while the deer is broke. 

His morsel claims with sullen croak.^^" 



MALISE 

" Peace ! peace ! to other than to me 100 

Thy words were evil augury; 

But still I hold Sir Roderick's blade, 

Clan-Alpine's omen and her aid, 

Not aught that, gleaned from heaven or hell. 

Yon fiend-begotten Monk can tell. 105 

84. Hero's Targe. The name of a rock in the Forest of Glenfinlas by 
which a noisy cataract runs. 

98. Broke. Quartered. Everything belonging to the chase was 
matter of solemnity among our ancestors; but nothing was more so than 



CANTO IV THE PROPHECY II3 

The Chieftain joins him, see — and now- 
Together they descend the brow." 

VI 

And, as they came, with Alpine's Lord 

The Hermit Monk held solemn word : — 

"Roderick! it is a fearful strife, no 

For man endowed with mortal life, 

Whose shroud of sentient clay can still 

Feel feverish pang and fainting chill. 

Whose eye can stare in stony trance. 

Whose hair can rouse like warrior's lance, — 115 

'T is hard for such to view, unfurled, 

The curtain of the future world. 

Yet, witness every quaking limb. 

My sunken pulse, mine eyeballs dim, 

My soul with harrowing anguish torn, — 120 

This for my Chieftain have I borne ! 

The shapes that sought my fearful couch 

A human tongue may ne'er avouch ; 

No mortal man — save he, who, bred 

Between the living and the dead, 125 

Is gifted beyond nature's law — 

Had e'er survived to say he saw. 

At length the fateful answer came 

In characters of living flame ! 

the mode of cutting up, or, as it was technically called, breaking the 
slaughtered stag. The forester had his allotted portion; the hounds 
had a certain allowance ; and, to make the division as general as 
possible, the very birds had their share also. — Scott. 



114 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto iv 

Not spoke in word, nor blazed in scroll, 130 

But borne and branded on my soul : — 
Which spills the foremost foeman's life, 
That party conquers in the strife!" 

VII 

''Thanks, Brian, for thy zeal and care! 

Good is thine augury, and fair. 135 

Clan-Alpine ne'er in battle stood 

But first our broadswords tasted blood. 

A surer victim still I know, 

Self -offered to the auspicious blow : 

A spy has sought my land this morn, — 140 

No eve shall witness his return ! 

My followers guard each pass's mouth, 

To east, to westward, and to south ; 

Red Murdoch, bribed to be his guide. 

Has charge to lead his steps aside, 145 

Till in deep path or dingle brown 

He light on those shall bring him down. — 

But see, who comes his news to show ! 

Malise ! what tidings of the foe ? " 

130. Blazed. Blazoned; displayed. 

133. That party conquers in the strife. Though this be in the text 
described as a response of the Taghairm, or Oracle of the Hide, it was 
of itself an augury frequently attended to. The fate of the battle was 
often anticipated in the imagination of the combatants, by observing 
which party first shed blood. It is said that the Highlanders under 
Montrose were so deeply imbued with this notion that on the morning 
of the battle of Tippermoor they murdered a defenseless herdsman 
whom they found in the fields, merely to secure an advantage of so 
much consequence to their party. — Scott. 



CANTO IV THE PROPHECY II5 

VIII 

"At Doune, o'er many a spear and glaive 150 

Two Barons proud their banners wave. 

I saw the Moray's silver star, 

And marked the sable pale of Mar." 

" By Alpine's soul, high tidings those ! 

I love to hear of worthy foes. 155 

When move they on .? " " To-morrow's noon 

Will see them here for battle boune." 

"Then shall it see a meeting stern ! 

But, for the place, — say, couldst thou learn 

Naught of the friendly clans of Earn ? 160 

Strengthened by them, we well might bide 

The battle on Benledi's side. 

Thou couldst not.? — well ! Clan- Alpine's men 

Shall man the Trosachs' shaggy glen; 

Within Loch Katrine's gorge we '11 fight, 165 

All in our maids' and matrons' sight. 

Each for his hearth and household fire. 

Father for child, and son for sire. 

Lover for maid beloved ! — But why — 

Is it the breeze affects mine eye .'' 170 

Or dost thou come, ill-omened tear ! 

A messenger of doubt or fear ? 

150. Glaive. A broadsword ; from 'La.tin ^/adms. 

152-153. Moray's silver star . . . sable pale of Mar. The earls of 
Moray and Mar were supporters of the King. The shield or banner of 
the one bore a star, the other a black band going perpendicularly down 
the center of the shield, called a pale. 

160. Earn. District about Loch Earn. 



Il6 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto iv 

No ! sooner may the Saxon lance 

Unfix Benledi from his stance, 

Than doubt or terror can pierce through 175 

The unyielding heart of Roderick Dhu ! 

'T is stubborn as his trusty targe. 

Each to his post ! — all know their charge." 

The pibroch sounds, the bands advance. 

The broadswords gleam, the banners dance, 180 

Obedient to the Chieftain's glance. — 

I turn me from the martial roar, 

And seek Coir-Uriskin once more. 

IX 

Where is the Douglas } — he is gone ; 

And Ellen sits on the gray stone 185 

Fast by the cave, and makes her moan, 

While vainly Allan's words of cheer 

Are poured on her unheeding ear. 

"He will return — dear lady, trust ! — 

With joy return ; — he will — he must. 190 

Well was it time to seek afar 

Some refuge from impending war. 

When e'en Clan-Alpine's rugged swarm 

Are cowed by the approaching storm. 

I saw their boats with many a light, 195 

Floating the livelong yesternight. 

Shifting like flashes darted forth 

By the red streamers of the north; 

174. stance. Station; foundation. 

198. Red streamers of the north. Aurora Borealis, or northern lights. 



CANTO IV THE PROPHECY 



117 



I marked at morn how close they ride, 

Thick moored by the lone islet's side, 200 

Like wild ducks couching in the fen 

When stoops the hawk upon the glen. 

Since this rude race dare not abide 

The peril on the mainland side, 

Shall not thy noble father's care 205 

Some safe retreat for thee prepare ? " 

X 

ELLEN 

*'No, Allan, no ! Pretext so kind 

My wakeful terrors could not blind. 

When in such tender tone, yet grave, 

Douglas a parting blessing gave, 210 

The tear that glistened in his eye 

Drowned not his purpose fixed and high. 

My soul, though feminine and weak, 

Can image his ; e'en as the lake. 

Itself disturbed by slightest stroke, 215 

Reflects the invulnerable rock. 

He hears report of battle rife. 

He deems himself the cause of strife. 

I saw him redden when the theme 

Turned, Allan, on thine idle dream 220 

Of Malcolm Graeme in fetters bound, 

Which I, thou saidst, about him wound. 

Think'st thou he trowed thine omen aught ? 

O no ! 't was apprehensive thought 

223. Trowed. Believed. 



Il8 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto iv 

For the kind youth, — for Roderick too — 225 

Let me be just — that friend so true ; 

In danger both, and in our cause ! 

Minstrel, the Douglas dare not pause. 

Why else that solemn warning given, 

* If not on earth, we meet in heaven ! ' 230 

Why else, to Cambus-kenneth's fane. 

If eve return him not again. 

Am I to hie and make me known? 

Alas ! he goes to Scotland's throne, 

Buys his friends' safety with his own ; 235 

He goes to do — what I had done. 

Had Douglas' daughter been his son ! " 

XI 

" Nay, lovely Ellen ! — dearest, nay ! 

If aught should his return delay. 

He only named yon holy fane 240 

As fitting place to meet again. 

Be sure he 's safe ; and for the Graeme, — 

Heaven's blessing on his gallant name ! — 

My visioned sight may yet prove true. 

Nor bode of ill to him or you. 245 

When did my gifted dream beguile ? 

Think of the stranger at the isle. 

And think upon the harpings slow 

That presaged this approaching woe ! 

Sooth was my prophecy of fear ; 250 

Believe it when it augurs cheer. 

231. Cambus-kenneth's fane. An abbey near Stirling. 



CANTO IV THE PROPHECY 1 19 

Would he had left this dismal spot ! 

Ill luck still haunts a fairy grot. 

Of such a wondrous tale I know — 

Dear lady, change that look of woe, 255 

My harp was wont thy grief to cheer." 

ELLEN 

" Well, be it as thou wilt ; I hear, 

But cannot stop the bursting tear." 

The Minstrel tried his simple art, 

But distant far was Ellen's heart. 260 

XII 

Alice Brand 
Merry it is in the good greenwood, 

When the mavis and merle are singing, 
When the deer sweeps by, and the hounds 
are in cry. 
And the hunter's horn is ringing. 

" O Alice Brand, my native land 265 

Is lost for love of you ; 
And we must hold by wood and wold, 

As outlaws wont to do. 

" O Alice, 't was all for thy locks so bright, 

And 't was all for thine eyes so blue, 270 

253. Grot. Grotto; secluded place. 

262. Mavis. Thrush. — Merle. Blackbird. 

267. Wold. Open grassy country. 



^ 



I20 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto iv 

That on the night of our luckless flight 
Thy brother bold I slew. 

'' Now must I teach to hew the beech 

The hand that held the glaive, 
For leaves to spread our lowly bed, 275 

And stakes to fence our cave. 

**And for vest of pall, thy fingers small. 

That wont on harp to stray, 
A cloak must shear from the slaughtered deer, 

To keep the cold away." 280 

" O Richard ! if my brother died, 

'T was but a fatal chance ; 
For darkling was the battle tried. 

And fortune sped the lance. 

" If pall and vair no more I wear, 285 

Nor thou the crimson sheen. 
As warm, we '11 say, is the russet gray, 

As gay the forest green. 

"And, Richard, if our lot be hard. 

And lost thy native land, 290 

Still Alice has her own Richard, 

And he his Alice Brand." 

277. Vest of pall. An outer garment of rich material. 
283. Darkling. In the dark. 

285. Vair, The fur of a small, bluish-gray animal resembling a 
polecat. Such furs were only worn by ladies of rank. — Yonge. 



CANTO IV THE PROPHECY 121 

xni 
^allaU Contfuncti 

'T is merry, 't is merry, in good greenwood ; 

So blithe Lady Alice is singing ; 
On the beech's pride, and oak's brown side, 295 

Lord Richard's ax is ringing. 

Up spoke the moody Elfin King, 

Who woned within the hill, — 
Like wind in the porch of a ruined church. 

His voice was ghostly shrill. 300 

" Why sounds yon stroke on beech and oak. 

Our moonlight circle's screen ? 
Or who comes here to chase the deer. 

Beloved of our Elfin Queen ? 
Or who may dare on wold to wear 305 

The fairies' fatal green ? 

*' Up, Urgan, up ! to yon mortal hie, 
For thou wert christened man ; 

298. Woned. Dwelt. 

304. Elfin Queen. Fairies, if not positively malevolent, are capricious 
and easily offended. They are, like other proprietors of forests, peculiarly 
jealous of their rights of ver^ and venison (or, right to wood and game). 

306. Fatal green. As the Daoine Shi\ or Men of Peace, wore green 
habits, they were supposed to take offense when any mortals ventured 
to assume their favorite color. Indeed, from some reason, which 
has been, perhaps, originally a general superstition, green is held in 
Scotland to be unlucky to particular tribes and counties. . . . More 
especially is it held fatal to the whole clan of Grahame. — Scott. 

308. Christened man. The elves were supposed greatly to envy the 



122 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto iv 

For cross or sign thou wilt not fly, 

For muttered word or ban. 310 

" Lay on him the curse of the withered heart, 

The curse of the sleepless eye ; 
Till he wish and pray that his life would part, 

Nor yet find leave to die." 



XIV 

^allati Contintieti 

*T is merry, 't is merry, in good greenwood, 315 

Though the birds have stilled their singing ; 

The evening blaze doth Alice raise, 
And Richard is fagots bringing. 

Up Urgan starts, that hideous dwarf. 

Before Lord Richard stands, 320 

And, as he crossed and blessed himself, 
"I fear not sign," quoth the grizzly elf, 

"That is made with bloody hands." 

But out then spoke she, Alice Brand, 

That woman void of fear, — 325 

"And if there 's blood upon his hand, 
'T is but the blood of deer." 

privileges acquired by Christian initiation, and they gave to those mor- 
tals who had fallen into their power a certain precedence, founded upon 
this advantageous distinction. — Scott. 



CANTO IV THE PROPHECY 1 23 

" Now loud thou liest, thou bold of mood ! 

It cleaves unto his hand, 
The stain of thine own kindly blood, 330 

The blood of Ethert Brand." 

Then forward stepped she, Alice Brand, 

And made the holy sign, — 
'' And if there 's blood on Richard's hand, 

A spotless hand is mine. 335 

*'And I conjure thee, demon elf, 

By Him whom demons fear, 
To show us whence thou art thyself. 

And what thine errand here ? " 



XV 

^allaU Continued 

" 'T is merry, 't is merry, in Fairy-land, 340 

When fairy birds are singing, 
When the court doth ride by their monarch's side, 

With bit and bridle ringing : 

"And gayly shines the Fairy-land — 

But all is glistening show, 345 

Like the idle gleam that December's beam 

Can dart on ice and snow. 

*'And fading, like that varied gleam. 
Is our inconstant shape, 

330. Kindly. Kindred. 



124 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto iv 

Who now like knight and lady seem, 350 

And now like dwarf and ape. 

" It was between the night and day, 

When the Fairy King has power. 
That I sunk down in a sinful fray, 
And 'twixt life and death was snatched away 355 

To the joyless Elfin bower. 

'' But wist I of a woman bold, 

Who thrice my brow durst sign, 
I might regain my mortal mold, 

As fair a form as thine." 360 

She crossed him once — she crossed him twice — 

That lady was so brave ; 
The fouler grew his goblin hue, 

The darker grew the cave. 

She crossed him thrice, that lady bold ; 365 

He rose beneath her hand 
The fairest knight on Scottish mold, 

Her brother, Ethert Brand ! 

Merry it is in good greenwood. 

When the mavis and merle are singing, 370 

But merrier were they in Dunfermline gray, 

When all the bells were ringing. 

357. Wist. Knew. 367. Mold. Soil. 

371. Dunfermline. A town on the Firth of Forth ; the seat of an exten- 
sive abbey, and the residence of the kings of Scotland in early times. 



CANTO IV THE PROPHECY 125 

XVI 
Just as the minstrel sounds were stayed, 
A stranger climbed the steepy glade ; 
His martial step, his stately mien, ^y^ 

His hunting-suit of Lincoln green, 
His eagle glance, remembrance claims — 
'Tis Snowdoun's Knight, 'tis James Fitz-James. 
Ellen beheld as in a dream. 

Then, starting, scarce suppressed a scream : 380 
*' O stranger ! in such hour of fear 
What evil hap has brought thee here ? " 
"An evil hap how can it be 
That bids me look again on thee ? 
By promise bound, my former guide 385 

Met me betimes this morning-tide. 
And marshaled over bank and bourne 
The happy path of my return." 
" The happy path ! — what ! — said he naught 
Of war, of battle to be fought, 390 

Of guarded pass ? " " No, by my faith ! 
Nor saw I aught could augur scathe." 
" O haste thee, Allan, to the kern : 
Yonder his tartans I discern ; 

Learn thou his purpose, and conjure 395 

That he will guide the stranger sure ! — 
What prompted thee, unhappy man ? 
The meanest serf in Roderick's clan 
Had not been bribed, by love or fear. 
Unknown to him to guide thee here." 400 

387. Bourne. Stream. 392. Augur scathe. Predict injury. 



126 THE LADY OF TJiE LAKE canto iv 



XVII 

" Sweet Ellen, dear my life must be, 

Since it is worthy care from thee ; 

Yet life I hold but idle breath 

When love or honor 's weighed with death. 

Then let me profit by my chance, 405 

And speak my purpose bold at once. 

I come to bear thee from a wild 

Where ne'er before such blossom smiled, 

By this soft hand to lead thee far 

From frantic scenes of feud and war. 410 

Near Bochastle my horses wait ; 

They bear us soon to Stirling gate. 

I '11 place thee in a lovely bower, 

I '11 guard thee like a tender flower — " 

" O hush. Sir Knight! 't were female art, 415 

To say I do not read thy heart ; 

Too much, before, my selfish ear 

Was idly soothed my praise to hear. 

That fatal bait hath lured thee back. 

In deathful hour, o'er dangerous track; 420 

And how, O how, can I atone 

The wreck my vanity brought on ! — 

One way remains — I '11 tell him all — 

Yes ! struggling bosom, forth it shall ! 

Thou, whose light folly bears the blame, 425 

Buy thine own pardon with thy shame ! 

But first — my father is a man 

Outlawed and exiled, under ban; 



CANTO IV THE PROPHECY 



127 



The price of blood is on his head, 

With me 't were infamy to wed. 430 

Still wouldst thou speak ? — then hear the truth ! 

Fitz-James, there is a noble youth — 

If yet he is ! — exposed for me 

And mine to dread extremity — 

Thou hast the secret of my heart ; 435 

Forgive, be generous, and depart!" 

XVIII 
Fitz-James knew every wily train 
A lady's fickle heart to gain, 
But here he knew and felt them vain. 
There shot no glance from Ellen's eye, 440 

To give her steadfast speech the lie; 
In maiden confidence she stood. 
Though mantled in her cheek the blood. 
And told her love with such a sigh 
Of deep and hopeless agony, 445 

As death had sealed her Malcolm's doom 
And she sat sorrowing on his tomb. 
Hope vanished from Fitz-James's eye. 
But not with hope fled sympathy. 
He proffered to attend her side, 450 

As brother would a sister guide. 
"O little know' St thou Roderick's heart ! 
Safer for both we go apart. 
O haste thee, and from Allan learn 
If thou mayst trust yon wily kern." 455 

437. Train. Persuasion or enticement. 



128 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto iv 

With hand upon his forehead laid, 

The conflict of his mind to shade, 

A parting step or two he made; 

Then, as some thought had crossed his brain. 

He paused, and turned, and came again. 460 

XIX 

" Hear, lady, yet a parting word ! — 

It chanced in fight that my poor sword 

Preserved the life of Scotland's lord. 

This ring the grateful Monarch gave. 

And bade, when I had boon to crave, 465 

To bring it back, and boldly claim 

The recompense that I would name. 

Ellen, I am no courtly lord. 

But one who lives by lance and sword, 

Whose castle is his helm and shield, 470 

His lordship .the embattled field. 

What from a prince can I demand. 

Who neither reck of state nor land.? 

Ellen, thy hand — the ring is thine ; 

Each guard and usher knows the sign. 475 

Seek thou the King without delay; 

This signet shall secure thy way: 

And claim thy suit, whate'er it be. 

As ransom of his pledge to me." 

He placed the golden circlet on, 480 

Paused — kissed her hand — and then was gone. 

471. His lordship the embattled field. His estate the battlefield. 
473. Reck of. Mind or care for. 



CANTO IV THE PROPHECY 1 29 

The aged Minstrel stood aghast, 

So hastily Fitz-James shot past. 

He joined his guide, and wending down 

The ridges of the mountain brown, 485 

Across the stream they took their way 

That joins Loch Katrine to Achray. 

XX 

All in the Trosachs' glen was still, 

Noontide was sleeping on the hill : 

Sudden his guide whooped loud and high — 490 

'^ Murdoch! was that a signal cry?" — 

He stammered forth, '* I shout to scare 

Yon raven from his dainty fare." 

He looked — he knew the raven's prey. 

His own brave steed : "Ah! gallant gray ! 495 

For thee — for me, perchance — 't were well 

We ne'er had seen the Trosachs' dell. — 

Murdoch, move first — but silently ; 

Whistle or whoop, and thou shalt die !" 

Jealous and sullen on they fared, 500 

Each silent, each upon his guard. 

XXI 

Now wound the path its dizzy ledge 
Around a precipice's edge. 
When lo ! a wasted female form, 
Blighted by wrath of sun and storm, 505 

In tattered weeds and wild array. 
Stood on a cliff beside the way, 
506. Weeds. Dress. 



130 . THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto iv 

And glancing round her restless eye, 

Upon the wood, the rock, the sky, 

Seemed naught to mark, yet all to spy. 510 

Her brow was wreathed with gaudy broom; 

With gesture wild she waved a plume 

Of feathers, which the eagles fling 

To crag and cliff from dusky wing ; 

Such spoils her desperate step had sought, 515 

Where scarce was footing for the goat. 

The tartan plaid she first descried. 

And shrieked till all the rocks replied ; 

As loud she laughed when near they drew, 

For then the Lowland garb she knew ; 520 

And then her hands she wildly wrung, 

And then she wept, and then she sung — 

She sung ! — the voice, in better time. 

Perchance to harp or lute might chime ; 

And now, though strained and roughened, still 525 

Rung wildly sweet to dale and hill. 

XXII 

They bid me sleep, they bid me pray. 

They say my brain is warped and wrung, — 

I cannot sleep on Highland brae, 

I cannot pray in Highland tongue. 530 

But were I now where Allan glides. 

Or heard my native Devan's tides, 

531, 532. Allan, Devan. Small streams tributary to the Forth. 



CANTO IV THE PROPHECY 13 1 

So sweetly would I rest, and pray 

That Heaven would close my wintry day ! 

'T was thus my hair they bade me braid, 535 

They made me to the church repair; 

It was my bridal morn, they said. 

And my true love would meet me there. 

But woe betide the cruel guile 

That drowned in blood the morning smile ! 540 

And woe betide the fairy dream ! 

I only waked to sob and scream. 



XXIII 

"Who is this maid.? what means her lay.-* 

She hovers o'er the hollow way, 

And flutters wide her mantle gray, 545 

As the lone heron spreads his wing, 

By twilight, o'er a haunted spring." 

*''T is Blanche of Devan," Murdoch said, 

"A crazed and captive Lowland maid, 

Ta'en on the morn she was a bride, 550 

When Roderick forayed Devan-side. 

The gay bridegroom resistance made. 

And felt our Chief's unconquered blade. 

I marvel she is now at large, 

But oft she 'scapes from Maudlin's charge. — 555 

Hence, brain-sick fool!" — He raised his bow: — 

"Now, if thou strik'st her but one blow, 

I '11 pitch thee from the cliff as far 

As ever peasant pitched a bar ! " 



132 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto iv 

"Thanks, champion, thanks!" the Maniac cried, 560 

And pressed her to Fitz-James's side. 

" See the gray pennons I prepare, 

To seek my true love through the air ! 

I will not lend that savage groom, 

To break his fall, one downy plume ! 565 

No! — deep amid disjointed stones. 

The wolves shall batten on his bones, 

And then shall his detested plaid. 

By bush and brier in mid-air stayed. 

Wave forth a banner fair and free, 570 

Meet signal for their revelry." 

XXIV 

" Hush thee, poor maiden, and be still! " 

*' O! thou look'st kindly, and I will. 

Mine eye has dried and wasted been, 

But still it loves the Lincoln green ; 575 

And, though mine ear is all unstrung, 

Still, still it loves the Lowland tongue. 

" For O my sweet William was forester true. 
He stole poor Blanche's heart away! 

His coat it was all of the greenwood hue, 580 

And so blithely he trilled the Lowland lay ! 

" It was not that I meant to tell . . . 
But thou art wise and guessest well." 

562. Pennons. Pinions; wings. 567. Batten. Fatten. 

578. my sweet William. The sight of the Lincoln green reminds 
Blanche of her husband, and she is led to warn the stranger of his peril. 



CANTO IV THE PROPHECY 1 33 

Then, in a low and broken tone, 

And hurried note, the song went on. 585 

Still on the Clansman fearfully 

She fixed her apprehensive eye. 

Then turned it on the Knight, and then 

Her look glanced wildly o'er the glen. 



XXV 

"The toils are pitched, and the stakes are set, — 590 

Ever sing merrily, merrily; 
The bows they bend, and the knives they whet. 

Hunters live so cheerily. 

" It was a stag, a stag of ten. 

Bearing its branches sturdily; 595 

He came stately down the glen, — 

Ever sing hardily, hardily. 

" It was there he met with a wounded doe, 

She was bleeding deathf ully : 
She warned him of the toils below, 600 

O, so faithfully, faithfully! 

" He had an eye, and he could heed, — 

Ever sing warily, warily; 
He had a foot, and he could speed, — 

Hunters watch so narrowly." 605 

593. Hunters live so cheerily, etc. The hunters are Clan-Alpine's 
men ; the stag of ten is Fitz-James ; the wounded doe is Blanche herself. 

594. Stag of ten. Stag having ten branches on his horns. 



134 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto iv 

XXVI 

Fitz-James's mind was passion-tossed, 

When Ellen's hints and fears were lost ; 

But Murdoch's shout suspicion wrought, 

And Blanche's song conviction brought. 

Not like a stag that spies the snare, 6io 

But lion of the hunt aware, 

He waved at once his blade on high, — 

*' Disclose thy treachery, or die! " 

Forth at full speed the Clansman flew. 

But in his race his bow he drew. 615 

The shaft just grazed Fitz-James's crest. 

And thrilled in Blanche's faded breast. — 

Murdoch of Alpine ! prove thy speed. 

For ne'er had Alpine's son such need ; 

With heart of fire, and foot of wind, 620 

The fierce avenger is behind ! 

Fate judges of the rapid strife — 

The forfeit death — the prize is life ; 

Thy kindred ambush lies before. 

Close couched upon the heathery moor ; 625 

Them couldst thou reach ! — it may not be — 

Thine ambushed kin thou ne'er shalt see. 

The fiery Saxon gains on thee ! — 

Resistless speeds the deadly thrust, 

As lightning strikes the pine to dust ; 630 

With foot and hand Fitz-James must strain 

Ere he can win his blade again. 

Bent o'er the fallen with falcon eye. 

He grimly smiled to see him die, 



CANTO IV THE PROPHECY 



135 



Then slower wended back his way, 635 

Where the poor maiden bleeding lay. 



XXVII 

She sat beneath the birchen tree, 

Her elbow resting on her knee ; 

She had withdrawn the fatal shaft. 

And gazed on it, and feebly laughed ; 640 

Her wreath of broom and feathers gray. 

Daggled with blood, beside her lay. 

The Knight to stanch the life-stream tried, — 

"Stranger, it is in vain ! " she cried. 

" This hour of death has given me more 645 

Of reason's power than years before ; 

For, as these ebbing veins decay, 

My frenzied visions fade away. 

A helpless injured wretch I die. 

And something tells me in thine eye 650 

That thou wert mine avenger born. 

Seest thou this tress ? — O, still I 've worn 

This little tress of yellow hair, 

Through danger, frenzy, and despair ! 

It once was bright and clear as thine, 655 

But blood and tears have dimmed its shine. 

I will not tell thee when 't was shred. 

Nor from what guiltless victim's head, — 

My brain would turn ! — but it shall wave ^ 

Like plumage on thy helmet brave, 660 

642. Daggled. Spattered. 



136 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto iv 

Till sun and wind shall bleach the stain, 

And thou wilt bring it me again. 

I waver still. — O God ! more bright 

Let reason beam her parting light ! — 

O, by thy knighthood's honored sign, 665 

And for thy life preserved by mine, 

When thou shalt see a darksome man. 

Who boasts him Chief of Alpine's Clan, 

With tartans broad and shadowy plume. 

And hand of blood, and brow of gloom, 670 

Be thy heart bold, thy weapon strong. 

And wreak poor Blanche of Devan's wrong ! — 

They watch for thee by pass and fell . . . 

Avoid the path . . . O God! . . . farewell." 

xxvni 
A kindly heart had brave Fitz-James ; 675 

Fast poured his eyes at pity's claims ; 
And now, with mingled grief and ire, 
He saw the murdered maid expire. 
" God, in my need, be my rehef, 
As I wreak this on yonder Chief ! " 680 

A lock from Blanche's tresses fair 
He blended with her bridegroom's hair ; 
The mingled braid in blood he dyed, 
And placed it on his bonnet-side : 
" By Him whose word is truth, I swear, 685 

No other favor will I wear, 

680. Wreak. Avenge. 

686. Favor. Gift of a lady to a knight, as a glove or a scarf, to be 
worn by him, 



CANTO IV THE PROPHECY 137 

Till this sad token I imbrue 

In the best blood of Roderick Dhu ! — 

But hark ! what means yon faint halloo ? 

The chase is up, — but they shall know, 690 

The stag at bay's a dangerous foe." 

Barred from the known but guarded way, 

Through copse and cliffs Fitz-James must stray. 

And oft must change his desperate track. 

By stream and precipice turned back. 695 

Heartless, fatigued, and faint, at length. 

From lack of food and loss of strength, 

He couched him in a thicket hoar. 

And thought his toils and perils o'er : — 

" Of all my rash adventures past, 700 

This frantic feat must prove the last ! 

Who e'er so mad but might have guessed 

That all this Highland hornet's nest 

Would muster up in swarms so soon 

As e'er they heard of bands at Doune .? — 705 

Like bloodhounds now they search me out, — 

Hark, to the whistle and the shout ! — 

If farther through the wilds I go, 

I only fall upon the foe : 

I '11 couch me here till evening gray, 710 

Then darkling try my dangerous way." 



XXIX 

The shades of eve come slowly down. 
The woods are wrapt in deeper brown, 



138 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto iv 

The owl awakens from her dell, 

The fox is heard upon the fell ; . 715 

Enough remains of glimmering light 

To guide the wanderer's steps aright, 

Yet not enough from far to show 

His figure to the watchful foe. 

With cautious step and ear awake, 720 

He climbs the crag and threads the brake ; 

And not the summer solstice there 

Tempered the midnight mountain air. 

But every breeze that swept the wold 

Benumbed his drenched limbs with cold. 725 

In dread, in danger, and alone. 

Famished and chilled, through ways unknown, 

Tangled and steep, he journeyed on ; 

Till, as a rock's huge point he turned, 

A watch-fire close before him burned. 730 

XXX 

Beside its embers red and clear. 

Basked in his plaid a mountaineer ; 

And up he sprung with sword in hand, — 

"Thy name and purpose ! Saxon, stand ! " 

"A stranger." " What dost thou require .? " 735 

" Rest and a guide, and food and fire. 

My life 's beset, my path is lost. 

The gale has chilled my limbs with frost." 

" Art thou a friend to Roderick } " '' No." 

" Thou dar'st not call thyself a foe .? " 740 

722. Summer solstice. The longest day, when the heat is greatest. 



CANTO IV THE PROPHECY 1 39 

*'I dare! to him and all the band « 

He brings to aid his murderous hand." 

** Bold words ! — but, though the beast of game 

The privilege of chase may claim, 

Though space and law the stag we lend, 745 

Ere hound we slip or bow we bend. 

Who ever recked, where, how, or when. 

The prowling fox was trapped or slain ? 

Thus treacherous scouts, — yet sure they lie. 

Who say thou cam'st a secret spy ! " — 750 

" They do, by heaven ! — come Roderick Dhu, 

And of his clan the boldest two. 

And let me but till morning rest, 

I write the falsehood on their crest." 

" If by the blaze I mark aright, 755 

Thou bear'st the belt and spur of Knight." 

''Then by these tokens mayst thou know 

Each proud oppressor's mortal foe." 

*' Enough, enough ; sit down and share 

A soldier's couch, a soldier's fare." 760 

XXXI 

He gave him of his Highland cheer, 
The hardened flesh of mountain deer ; 
Dry fuel on the fire he laid. 
And bade the Saxon share his plaid. 

746, Slip. Let loose for the game. 

762. Hardened flesh. The Scottish Highlanders in former times had 
a way of preparing their venison without cooking, by simply pressing it 
between two pieces of wood, so as to force out the blood and render 
it extremely hard. This was considered a great delicacy. 



I40 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto iv 

• He tended him like welcome guest, 765 

Then thus his further speech addressed : — 
*' Stranger, I am to Roderick Dhu 
A clansman born, a kinsman true ; 
Each word against his honor spoke 
Demands of me avenging stroke ; 770 

Yet more, — upon thy fate, 't is said, 
A mighty augury is laid. 
It rests with me to wind my horn, — 
Thou art with numbers overborne ; 
It rests with me, here, brand to brand, 775 

Worn as thou art, to bid thee stand : 
But, not for clan, nor kindred's cause. 
Will I depart from honor's laws ; 
To assail a wearied man were shame, 
And stranger is a holy name ; 780 

Guidance and rest, and food and fire. 
In vain he never must require. 
Then rest thee here till dawn of day ; 
Myself will guide thee on the way. 
O'er stock and stone, through watch and ward, 785 
Till past Clan-Alpine's outmost guard, 
As far as Coilantogle's ford ; 
From thence thy warrant is thy sword." 
'' I take thy courtesy, by heaven. 
As freely as 't is nobly given ! " 790 

787. Coilantogle's ford. On arriving at Coilantogle's ford, near the 
foot of Loch Vennachar, Fitz-James, having passed beyond the limits 
of the lawless Highlands, came within the district loyal to the Scottish 
king, and, therefore, needed no further protection from the Highland 
chief. 



CANTO IV THE PROPHECY 



141 



"Well, rest thee ; for the bittern's cry 

Sings us the lake's wild lullaby." 

With that he shook the gathered heath, 

And spread his plaid upon the wreath ; 

And the' brave foemen, side by side, 795 

Lay peaceful down like brothers tried, 

And slept until the dawning beam 

Purpled the mountain and the stream. 



Canto Fifth 



THE COMBAT 



Fair as the earliest beam of eastern light, 
When first, by the bewildered pilgrim spied, 

It smiles upon the dreary brow of night, 
And silvers o'er the torrent's foaming tide, 

And lights the fearful path on mountain-side, — 
Fair as that beam, although the fairest far, 

Giving to horror grace, to danger pride, 

Shine martial Faith, and Courtesy's bright star, 
Through all the wreckful storms that cloud the brow 
of War. 

II 
That early beam, so fair and sheen. 
Was twinkling through the hazel screen, 
When, rousing at its glimmer red. 
The warriors left their lowly bed. 
Looked out upon the dappled sky. 
Muttered their soldier matins by, - 
And then awaked their fire, to steal. 
As short and rude, their soldier meal. 

1 6, 17. To steal their meal. To eat hurriedly. 
142 



CANTO V THE COMBAT I43 

That o'er, the Gael around him threw 

His graceful plaid of varied hue, 

And, true to promise, led the way, 20 

By thicket green and mountain gray. 

A wildering path ! — they winded now 

Along the precipice's brow. 

Commanding the rich scenes beneath. 

The windings of the Forth and Teith, 25 

And all the vales between that lie, 

Till Stirling's turrets melt in sky ; 

Then, sunk in copse, their farthest glance 

Gained not the length of horseman's lance. 

'T was oft so steep, the foot was fain 30 

Assistance from the hand to gain ; 

So tangled oft that, bursting through. 

Each hawthorn shed her showers of dew, — 

That diamond dew, so pure and clear, 

It rivals all but Beauty's tear! 35 



III 

At length they came where, stern and steep, 

The hill sinks down upon the deep. 

Here Vennachar in silver flows. 

There, ridge on ridge, Benledi rose; 

Ever the hollow path twined on, 40 

Beneath steep bank and threatening stone; 

A hundred men might hold the post 

With hardihood against a host. 

18. Gael. The Highlander is called Gael, and the 'LoviXdSiditx Saxon. 



144 'THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto v 

The rugged mountain's scanty cloak 

Was dwarfish shrubs of birch and oak, 45 

With shingles bare, and cliffs between. 

And patches bright of bracken green, 

And heather black, that waved so high, 

It held the copse in rivalry. 

But where the lake slept deep and still, 50 

Dank osiers fringed the swamp and hill ; 

And oft both path and hill were torn, 

Where wintry torrent down had borne. 

And heaped upon the cumbered land 

Its wreck of gravel, rocks, and sand. 55 

So toilsome was the road to trace, 

The guide, abating of his pace, 

Led slowly through the pass's jaws, 

And asked Fitz-James by what strange cause 

He sought these wilds, traversed by few, 60 

Without a pass from Roderick Dhu. 



IV 

" Brave Gael, my pass, in danger tried, 

Hangs in my belt and by my side; 

Yet, sooth to tell," the Saxon said, 

" I dreamt not now to claim its aid. 65 

When here, but three days since, I came. 

Bewildered in pursuit of game. 

All seemed as peaceful and as still 

As the mist slumbering on yon hil] ; 

46. Shingles. Gravel. 



o V THE COMBAT 145 

Thy dangerous Chief was then afar, 70 

Nor soon expected back from war. 

Thus said, at least, my mountain-guide. 

Though deep perchance the villain lied." 

*'Yet why a second venture try.?" 

''A warrior thou, and ask me why ! — 75 

Moves our free course by such fixed cause 

As gives the poor mechanic laws } 

Enough, I sought to drive away ^ 

The lazy hours of peaceful day; 

Slight cause will then suffice to guide 80 

A Knight's free footsteps far and wide, — 

A falcon flown, a greyhound strayed. 

The merry glance of mountain maid ; 

Or, if a path be dangerous known. 

The danger's self is lure alone." 85 

V 

*'Thy secret keep, I urge thee not ; — 

Yet, ere again ye sought this spot. 

Say, heard ye naught of Lowland war. 

Against Clan- Alpine, raised by Mar.?" 

" No, by my word ; — of bands prepared 90 

To guard King James's sports I heard; 

Nor doubt I aught, but, when they hear 

This muster of the mountaineer. 

Their pennons will abroad be flung. 

Which else in Doune had peaceful hung." 95 

93. Muster. Gathering. 

94. Pennons. Flags or streamers. 

95. Doune. See note. Canto V, line 492. 



146 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto v 

*' Free be they flung ! for we were loath 

Their silken folds should feast the moth. 

Free be they flung ! — as free shall wave 

Clan-Alpine's pine in banner brave. 

But, stranger, peaceful since you came, 100 

Bewildered in the mountain-game. 

Whence the bold boast by which you show 

Vich- Alpine's vowed and mortal foe.?" 

" Warrior, but yester-morn I knew 

Naught of thy Chieftain, Roderick Dhu, 105 

Save as an outlawed, desperate man. 

The chief of a rebellious clan, 

Who, in the Regent's court and sight, 

With ruflian dagger stabbed a knight; 

Yet this alone might from his part no 

Sever each true and loyal heart." 

VI 

Wrathful at such arraignment foul. 

Dark lowered the clansman's sable scowl. 

A space he paused, then sternly said, 

<*And heardst thou why he drew his blade.? 115 

Heardst thou that shameful word and blow 

Brought Roderick's vengeance on his foe.? 

What recked the Chieftain if he stood 

On Highland heath or Holy-Rood.? 

He rights such wrong where it is given, 120 

If it were in the court of heaven." 

108. Regent. John Stuart, Duke of Albany, regent during the 
minority of James V. 

119. Holy-Rood. See note, Canto H, line 221. 



o V THE COMBAT 147 

''Still was it outrage; — yet, 't is true, 

Not then claimed sovereignty his due; 

While Albany with feeble hand 

Held borrowed truncheon of command, 125 

The young King, mewed in Stirling tower, 

Was stranger to respect and power. 

But then, thy Chieftain's robber life! — 

Winning mean prey by causeless strife. 

Wrenching from ruined Lowland swain 130 

His herds and harvest reared in vain, — 

Methinks a soul like thine should scorn 

The spoils from such foul foray borne." 



VII 

The Gael beheld him grim the while, 

And answered with disdainful smile: 135 

" Saxon, from yonder mountain high, 

I marked thee send delighted eye 

Far to the south and east, where lay, 

Extended in succession gay. 

Deep waving fields and pastures green, 140 

With gentle slopes and groves between : — 

125. Truncheon. Staff. 

126. Mewed. Imprisoned. 

127. Stranger to respect and power. There is scarcely a more dis- 
orderly period in Scottish history than that which succeeded the battle 
of Flodden and occupied the minority of James V. Feuds of ancient 
standing broke out like old wounds, and every quarrel among the inde- 
pendent nobility, which occurred daily, and almost hourly, gave rise to 
fresh bloodshed. — Scott. 



148 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto v 

These fertile plains, that softened vale, 

Were once the birthright of the Gael ; 

The stranger came with iron hand, 

And from our fathers reft the land. 145 

Where dwell we now? See, rudely swell 

Crag over crag, and fell o'er fell. 

Ask we this savage hill we tread 

For fattened steer or household bread, 

Ask we for flocks these shingles dry, 150 

And well the mountain might reply, — 

* To you, as to your sires of yore, 

Belong the target and claymore ! 

I give you shelter in my breast, 

Your own good blades must win the rest.' 155 

Pent in this fortress of the North, 

Think' st thou we will not sally forth. 

To spoil the spoiler as we may. 

And from the robber rend the prey.-* 

Ay, by my soul ! — While on yon plain 160 

The Saxon rears one shock of grain, 

While of ten thousand herds there strays 

But one along yon river's maze, — 

The Gael, of plain and river heir. 

Shall with strong hand redeem his share. 165 

Where live the mountain Chiefs who hold 

That plundering Lowland field and fold 

Is aught but retribution true ? 

Seek other cause 'gainst Roderick Dhu." 

169. Seek other cause 'gainst Roderick Dhu. So far, indeed, was a 
Creagh, or foray, from being lield disgraceful, that a young chief was 



CANTO V • THE COMBAT 149 

VIII 
Answered Fitz- James: "And, if I sought, 170 

Think'st thou no other could be brought ? 
What deem ye of my path waylaid ? 
My life given o'er to ambuscade? " 
"''As of a meed to rashness due: 
Hadst thou sent warning fair and true, — 175 

I seek my hound or falcon strayed, 
I seek, good faith, a Highland maid, — 
Free hadst thou been to come and go ; 
' But secret path marks secret foe. 

Nor yet for this, even as a spy, 180 

Hadst thou, unheard, been doomed to die, 

Save to fulfill an augury." 

" Well, let it pass ; nor will I now 

Fresh cause of enmity avow, 

To chafe thy mood and cloud thy brow. 185 

Enough, I am by promise tied 

To match me with this man of pride: 

Twice have I sought Clan-Alpine's glen 

In peace; but when I come again, 

I come with banner, brand, and bow, 190 

As leader seeks his mortal foe. 

always expected to show his talents for command, so soon as he assumed 
it, by leading his clan on a successful enterprise of this nature, either 
against a neighboring sept, for which constant feuds usually furnished 
an apology, or against the Saxons, or Lowlanders, for which no apology 
was necessary. The Gael, great traditional historians, never forgot that 
the Lowlands had, at some remote period, been the property of their 
Celtic forefathers, which furnished an ample vindication of all the rav- 
ages that they could make on the unfortunate districts which lay within 
their reach. — Scott, 



I50 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto v 

For love-lorn swain in lady's bower 

Ne'er panted for the appointed hour, 

As I, until before me stand 

This rebel Chieftain and his band ! " 195 

IX 

*' Have then thy wish ! " — He whistled shrill, 

And he was answered from the hill; 

Wild as the scream of the curlew, 

From crag to crag the signal flew. 

Instant, through copse and heath, arose 200 

Bonnets and spears and bended bows ; 

On right, on left, above, below. 

Sprung up at once the lurking foe; 

From shingles gray their lances start, 

The bracken bush sends forth the dart, 205 

The rushes and the willow-wand 

Are bristling into ax and brand. 

And every tuft of broom gives life 

To plaided warrior armed for strife. 

That whistle garrisoned the glen 210 

At once with full five hundred men. 

As if the yawning hill to heaven 

A subterranean host had given. 

Watching their leader's beck and will. 

All silent there they stood and still. 215 

Like the loose crags whose threatening mass 

Lay tottering o'er the hollow pass. 

As if an infant's touch could urge 

Their headlong passage down the verge, 



D V THE COMBAT 151 

With step and weapon forward flung, 220 

Upon the mountain-side they hung. 

The Mountaineer cast glance of pride 

Along Benledi's living side, 

Then fixed his eye and sable brow 

Full on Fitz-James: ** How say'st thou now? 225 

These are Clan-Alpine's warriors true; 

And, Saxon, — I am Roderick Dhu ! " 



Fitz-James was brave: — though to his heart 

The life-blood thrilled with sudden start. 

He manned himself with dauntless air, 230 

Returned the Chief his haughty stare. 

His back against a rock he bore. 

And firmly placed his foot before : — 

" Come one, come all ! this rock shall fly 

From its firm base as soon as I." 235 

Sir Roderick marked, — and in his eyes 

Respect was mingled with surprise. 

And the stern joy which warriors feel 

In foeman worthy of their steel. 

Short space he stood — then waved his hand : 240 

Down sunk the disappearing band ; 

Each warrior vanished where he stood, 

In broom or bracken, heath or wood ; 

Sunk brand and spear and bended bow. 

In osiers pale and copses low; 245 

It seemed as if their mother Earth 

Had swallowed up her warlike birth. 



152 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto v 

The wind's last breath had tossed in air 
Pennon and plaid and plumage fair, — 
The next but swept a lone hill-side, 250 

'Where heath and fern were waving wide : 
The sun's last glance was glinted back 
From spear and glaive, from targe and jack, — 
The next, all unreflected, shone 
On bracken green and cold gray stone. 255 

XI 
Fitz-James looked round, — yet scarce believed 
The witness that his sight received ; 
Such apparition well might seem 
Delusion of a dreadful dream. 

Sir Roderick in suspense he eyed, 260 

And to his look the Chief replied : 
''Fear naught — nay, that I need not say — 
But — doubt not aught from mine array. 
Thou art my guest ; — I pledged my word 
As far as Coilantogle ford : 265 

Nor would I call a clansman's brand 
For aid against one valiant hand. 
Though on our strife lay every vale 
Rent by the Saxon from the Gael. 
So move we on ; — I only meant 270 

To show the reed on which you leant. 
Deeming this path you might pursue 
Without a pass from Roderick Dhu." 

253. From targe and jack. From shield and coat of armor. The 
peasant's coat of armor was a leathern jacket. 

273. Without a pass from Roderick Dhu. This incident, like some 



CANTO V THE COMBAT 1 53 

They moved ; — I said Fitz-James was brave 

As ever knight that belted glaive, 275 

Yet dare not say that now his blood 

Kept on its wont and tempered flood, 

As, following Roderick's stride, he drew 

That seeming lonesome pathway through, 

Which yet by fearful proof was rife 280 

With lances, that, to take his life, 

Waited but signal from a guide, 

So late dishonored and defied. 

Ever, by stealth, his eye sought round 

The vanished guardians of the ground, 285 

And still from copse and heather deep 

Fancy saw spear and broadsword peep, 

And in the plover's shrilly strain 

The signal whistle heard again. 

Nor breathed he free till far behind 290 

The pass was left ; for then they wind 

Along a wide and level green. 

Where neither tree nor tuft was seen, 

Nor rush nor bush of broom was near. 

To hide a bonnet or a spear. 295 

XII 

The Chief in silence strode before. 

And reached that torrent's sounding shore, 

other passages in the poem illustrative of the character of the ancient 
Gael, is not imaginary but borrowed from fact. The Highlanders, with 
the inconsistency of most nations in the same state, were alternately 
capable of great exertions of generosity and of cruel revenge and 
perfidy. — Scott. 



154 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto v 

Which, daughter of three mighty lakes, 

F'rom Vennachar in silver breaks, 

Sweeps through the plain, and ceaseless mines 300 

On Bochastle the moldering lines. 

Where Rome, the Empress of the world, 

Of yore her eagle wings unfurled. 

And here his course the Chieftain stayed, 

Threw down his target and his plaid, 305 

And to the Lowland warrior said : 

''Bold Saxon ! to his promise just, 

Vich-Alpine has discharged his trust. 

This murderous Chief, this ruthless man, 

This head of a rebellious clan, 310 

Hath led thee safe, through watch and ward, 

Far past Clan-Alpine's outmost guard. 

Now, man to man, and steel to steel, 

A Chieftain's vengeance thou shalt feel. 

See, here all vantageless I stand, 315 

Armed like thyself with single brand ; 

For this is Coilantogle ford. 

And thou must keep thee with thy sword." 

298. Three mighty lakes. Katrine, Achray, and Vennachar. 

301. Bochastle. The torrent which discharges itself from "Loch Ven- 
nachar, the lowest and eastmost of the three lakes which form the 
scenery adjoining to the Trosachs, sweeps through a flat and extensive 
moor called Bochastle. Upon a small eminence called the Dun of 
Bochastle, and, indeed, on the plain itself, are some intrenchments 
which have been thought Roman. — Scott. 

303. Eagle wings unfurled. The eagle was the principal standard of 
the Roman army. 



THE COMBAT 



XIII 



155 



The Saxon paused : " I ne'er delayed, 

When foeman bade me draw my blade ; 320 

Nay more, brave Chief, I vowed thy death ; 

Yet sure thy fair and generous faith, 

And my deep debt for life preserved, 

A better meed have well deserved : 

Can naught but blood our feud atone ? 325 

Are there no means ? " — *' No, stranger, none ! 

And hear, — to fire thy flagging zeal, — 

The Saxon cause rests on thy steel ; 

For thus spoke Fate by prophet bred 

Between the living and the dead : 330 

* Who spills the foremost foeman' s life, 

His party conquers in the strife.' " 

''Then, by my word," the Saxon said, 

"The riddle is already read. 

Seek yonder brake beneath the cliff, — 335 

There lies Red Murdoch, stark and stiff. 

Thus Fate hath solved her prophecy; 

Then yield to Fate, and not to me. 

To James at Stirling let us go. 

When, if thou wilt be still his foe, 340 

Or if the King shall not agree 

To grant thee grace and favor free, 

I plight mine honor, oath, and word 

That, to thy native strengths restored. 

With each advantage shalt thou stand 345 

That aids thee now to guard thy land." 



56 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto v 



XIV 

Dark lightning flashed from Roderick's eye : 

** Soars thy presumption, then, so high, 

Because a wretched kern ye slew. 

Homage to name to Roderick Dhu ? 350 

He yields not, he, to man nor Fate ! 

Thou add'st but fuel to my hate ; — 

My clansman's blood demands revenge. 

Not yet prepared ? — By heaven, I change 

My thought, and hold thy valor light 355 

As that of some vain carpet knight, 

Who ill deserved my courteous care. 

And whose best boast is but to wear 

A braid of his fair lady's hair." 

" I thank thee, Roderick, for the word ! 360 

It nerves my heart, it steels my sword ; 

For I have sworn this braid to stain 

In the best blood that warms thy vein. 

Now, truce, farewell ! and, ruth, begone ! — 

Yet think not that by thee alone, 365 

Proud Chief ! can courtesy be shown ; 

Though not from copse, or heath, or cairn, 

Start at my whistle clansmen stern, 

Of this small horn one feeble blast 

Would fearful odds against thee cast. 370 

But fear not — doubt not — which thou wilt — 

We try this quarrel hilt to hilt." 

356. Carpet knight. One who wins his honors in royal halls by 
favoritism rather than by bravery on the battlefield. 



CANTO V THE COMBAT 1 57 

Then each at once his falchion drew, 

Each on the ground his scabbard threw, 

Each looked to sun and stream and plain 375 

As what they ne'er might see again ; 

Then foot and point and eye opposed. 

In dubious strife they darkly closed. 

XV 

111 fared it then with Roderick Dhu, 

That on the field his targe he threw, 380 

Whose brazen studs and tough bull-hide 

Had death so often dashed aside ; 

For, trained abroad his arms to wield, 

Fitz- James's blade was sword and shield. 

He practiced every pass and ward, 385 

To thrust, to strike, to feint, to guard ; 

While less expert, though stronger far, 

The Gael maintained unequal war. 

Three times in closing strife they stood, 

And thrice the Saxon blade drank blood ; 390 

No stinted draught, no scanty tide, 

The gushing flood the tartans dyed. 

Fierce Roderick felt the fatal drain, 

And showered his blows like wintry rain ; 

380. His targe he threw, etc. A round target of light wood, covered 
with strong leather and studded with brass or iron, was a necessary 
part of a Highlander's equipment. In charging regular troops they 
received the thrust of the bayonet in this buckler, twisted it aside, and 
used the broadsword against the encumbered soldier. — Scott. 

383. Abroad. In France, undoubtedly, where the best swordsmen 
are still found. 



158 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto v 

And, as firm rock or castle-roof 395 

Against the winter shower is proof, 

The foe, invulnerable still. 

Foiled his wild rage by steady skill ; 

Till, at advantage ta'en, his brand 

Forced Roderick's weapon from his hand, 400 

And backward borne upon the lea. 

Brought the proud Chieftain to his knee. 



XVI 

*' Now yield thee, or by Him who made 

The world, thy heart's blood dyes my blade ! " 

" Thy threats, thy mercy, I defy ! 405 

Let recreant yield, who fears to die." 

Like adder darting from his coil, 

Like wolf that dashes through the toil. 

Like mountain-cat who guards her young, 

Full at Fitz-James's throat he sprung ; 410 

Received, but recked not of a wound. 

And locked his arms his foeman round. — 

Now, gallant Saxon, hold thine own ! 

No maiden's hand is round thee thrown ! 

That desperate grasp thy frame might feel 415 

Through bars of brass and triple steel ! 

They tug, they strain ! down, down they go, 

The Gael above, Fitz-James below. 

The Chieftain's gripe his throat compressed, 

His knee was planted on his breast; 420 

416. Triple steel. Threefold armor. 



^o V THE COMBAT 159 

His clotted locks he backward threw, 

Across his brow his hand he drew, 

From blood and mist to clear his sight. 

Then gleamed aloft his dagger bright ! 

But hate and fury ill supplied 425 

The stream of life's exhausted tide. 

And all too late the advantage came. 

To turn the odds of deadly game ; 

For, while the dagger gleamed on high, 

Reeled soul and sense, reeled brain and eye. 430 

Down came the blow ! but in the heath 

The erring blade found bloodless sheath. 

The struggling foe may now unclasp 

The fainting Chief's relaxing grasp ; 

Unwounded from the dreadful close, 435 

But breathless all, Fitz-James arose. 

XVII 

He faltered thanks to Heaven for life. 

Redeemed, unhoped, from desperate strife ; 

Next on his foe his look he cast, 

Whose every gasp appeared his last ; 440 

In Roderick's gore he dipped the braid, — 

*' Poor Blanche ! thy wrongs are dearly paid ; 

Yet with thy foe must die or live 

The praise that faith and valor give." 

With that he blew a bugle note, 445 

Undid the collar from his throat, 

Unbonneted, and by the wave 

Sat down his brow and hands to lave. 



l6o THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto v 

Then faint afar are heard the feet 

Of rushing steeds in gallop fleet ; 450 

The sounds increase, and now are seen 

Four mounted squires in Lincoln green ; 

Two who bear lance, and two who lead 

By loosened rein a saddled steed ; 

Each onward held his headlong course, 455 

And by Fitz-James reined up his horse, — - 

With wonder viewed the bloody spot, — 

" Exclaim not, gallants ! question not. — 

You, Herbert and Luff n ess, alight, 

And bind the wounds of yonder knight ; 460 

Let the gray palfrey bear his weight, 

We destined for a fairer freight, 

And bring him on to Stirling straight ; 

I will before at better speed. 

To seek fresh horse and fitting weed. 465 

The sun rides high ; — I must be boune 

To see the archer-game at noon ; 

But lightly Bayard clears the lea. — 

De Vaux and Herries, follow me. 

xvni 
" Stand, Bayard, stand ! " — the steed obeyed, 470 
With arching neck and bended head, 
And glancing eye and quivering ear, 
As if he loved his lord to hear. 
No foot Fitz-James in stirrup stayed. 
No grasp upon the saddle laid, 475 

461. Palfrey. A small saddle horse for ladies' use. 
466. Boune. Ready. 



CANTO V THE COMBAT l6l 

But wreathed his left hand in the mane, 

And lightly bounded from the plain, 

Turned on the horse his armed heel, 

And stirred his courage with the steel. 

Bounded the fiery steed in air, 480 

The rider sat erect and fair, 

Then like a bolt from steel crossbow 

Forth launched, along the plain they go. 

They dashed that rapid torrent through, 

And up Carhonie's hill they flew ; 485 

Still at the gallop pricked the Knight, 

His merrymen followed as they might. 

Along thy banks, swift Tcith ! they ride. 

And in the race they mock thy tide ; 

Torry and Lendrick now are past, 490 

And Deanstown lies behind them cast ; 

They rise, the bannered towers of Doune, 

They sink in distant woodland soon ; 

Blair-Drummond sees the hoofs strike fire. 

They sweep like breeze through Ochtertyre ; 495 

They mark just glance and disappear 

The lofty brow of ancient Kier ; 

They bathe their coursers' sweltering sides, 

Dark Forth ! amid thy sluggish tides, 

486. Pricked. Spurred or rode. 

490-497. Torry, Lendrick, Deanstown, Blair-Drummond, Ochtertyre, 
and Kier lie on the banks of the Teith, and were all familiar to Scott 
in his early years. 

492. The bannered towers of Doune. The ruins of Doune Castle, 
formerly the residence of the earls of Menteith, now the property of 
the Earl of Moray, are situated at the confluence of the Ardoch and the 
Teith. — Scott. 



l62 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto v 

And on the opposing shore take ground, 500 

With plash, with scramble, and with bound. 

Right-hand they leave thy cliffs, Craig-Forth ! 

And soon the bulwark of the North, 

Gray Stirling, with her towers and town, 

Upon their fleet career looked down. 505 

XIX 

As up the flinty path they strained, 

Sudden his steed the leader reined ; 

A signal to his squire he flung, 

Who instant to his stirrup sprung : — 

" Seest thou, De Vaux, yon woodsman gray, 510 

Who townward holds the rocky way, 

Of stature tall and poor array .-* 

Mark'st thou the firm, yet active stride. 

With which he scales the mountain-side .? 

Know'st thou from whence he comes, or whom.? " 515 

" No, by my word ; — a burly groom 

He seems, who in the field or chase 

A baron's train would nobly grace — " 

** Out, out, De Vaux ! can fear supply. 

And jealousy, no sharper eye.? 520 

Afar, ere to the hill he drew, 

That stately form and step I knew ; 

Like form in Scotland is not seen, 

Treads not such step on Scottish green. 

504. Stirling. This castle was one of the principal fortresses of 
Scotland and the residence of James V. Standing upon a lofty rock, 
it commands a fine view of the surrounding country and Firth of Forth. 



NTO V THE COMBAT 163 

'T is James of Douglas, by Saint Serle ! 525 

The uncle of the banished Earl. 

Away, away, to court, to show 

The near approach of dreaded foe : 

The King must stand upon his guard ; 

Douglas and he must meet prepared." 530 

Then right-hand wheeled their steeds, and straight 

They won the Castle's postern gate. 



XX 

The Douglas, who had bent his way 

From Cambus-kenneth's abbey gray, 

Now, as he climbed the rocky shelf, 535 

Held sad communion with himself : — 

" Yes ! all is true my fears could frame ; 

A prisoner lies the noble Graeme, 

And fiery Roderick soon will feel 

The vengeance of the royal steel. 540 

I, only I, can ward their fate, — 

God grant the ransom come not late ! 

The Abbess hath her promise given. 

My child shall be the bride of Heaven ; — 

Be pardoned one repining tear ! 545 

For He who gave her knows how dear. 

How excellent ! — but that is by. 

And now my business is — to die. — 

532. Postern gate. Back gate. 

544. Bride of Heaven. One whose life is wholly devoted to the 
church. 



l64 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto v 

Ye towers ! within whose circuit dread 

A Douglas by his sovereign bled ; 550 

And thou, O sad and fatal mound ! 

That oft hast heard the death-ax sound, 

As on the noblest of the land 

Fell the stern headsman's bloody hand, — 

The dungeon, block, and nameless tomb 555 

Prepare — for Douglas seeks his doom ! 

But hark ! what blithe and jolly peal 

Makes the Franciscan steeple reel ? 

And see ! upon the crowded street 

In motley groups what masquers meet ! 560 

Banner and pageant, pipe and drum, 

And merry morrice-dancers come. 

I guess, by all this quaint array. 

The burghers hold their sports to-day. 

550. Douglas. The fate of William, eighth Earl of Douglas, whom 
James II stabbed in Stirling Castle with his own hand and while under his 
royal safe conduct, is familiar to all who read Scottish history. — Scott. 

551. sad and fatal mound. An eminence on the northeast of the 
Stirling Castle where state criminals were executed. Stirling was often 
polluted with noble blood. — Scott. 

558. Franciscan steeple. Grayfriars' church. The Franciscans were 
a Roman Catholic order founded by St. Francis on the principle of 
poverty. He held that neither the individual nor an institution should 
acquire or hold any right of property. 

562. Morrice-dancers. Performers of a Moorish dance, a popular 
amusement of the day, in which all classes of society joined. The actors, 
personating certain characters, as Friar Tuck, Robin Hood, etc., were dis- 
guised in curious vestments of fawn-colored silk in the form of a tunic, 
with trappings of green and red satin, and wore bells around their ankles, 
with which they kept time to the music. (See note. Canto V, line 615.) 

564. The burghers hold their sports to-day. Every burgh of Scotland 
of the least note, but more especially the considerable towns, had their 



CANTO V THE COMBAT 165 

James will be there ; he loves such show, 565 

Where the good yeoman bends his bow, 

And the tough wrestler foils his foe, 

As well as where, in proud career, 

The high-born tilter shivers spear. 

I '11 follow to the Castle-park, 570 

And play my prize ; — King James shall mark 

If age has tamed these sinews stark. 

Whose force so oft in happier days 

His boyish wonder loved to praise." 



XXI 

The Castle gates were open flung, 575 

The quivering drawbridge rocked and rung, 

And echoed loud the flinty street 

Beneath the coursers' clattering feet. 

As slowly down the steep descent 

Fair Scotland's King and nobles went, 580 

While all along the crowded way 

Was jubilee and loud huzza. 

solemn play, or festival, when feats of archery were exhibited, and prizes 
distributed to those who excelled in wrestling, hurling the bar, and the 
other gymnastic exercises of the period. Stirling, a usual place of royal 
residence, was not likely to be deficient in pomp upon such occasions, 
especially since James V was very partial to them. His ready partici- 
pation in these popular amusements was one cause of his acquiring the 
title of King of the Commons. — Scott. 

566. Yeoman. A countryman ; in England, next in order of rank to 
the gentry. The term is also applied to a member of the king's guard. 

572. Stark. Strong; rugged. 

575. Castle. Stirling. (See note, Canto V, line 504.) 



l66 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto v 

And ever James was bending low 

To his white jennet's saddle-bow, 

Doffing his cap to city dame, 585 

Who smiled and blushed for pride and shame. 

And well the simperer might be vain, — 

He chose the fairest of the train. 

Gravely he greets each city sire, 

Commends each pageant's quaint attire, 590 

Gives to the dancers thanks aloud. 

And smiles and nods upon the crowd. 

Who rend the heavens with their acclaims, — 

"Long live the Commons' King, King James!" 

Behind the King thronged peer and knight, 595 

And noble dame and damsel bright. 

Whose fiery steeds ill brooked the stay 

Of the steep street and crowded way. 

But in the train you might discern 

Dark lowering brow and visage stern ; 600 

There nobles mourned their pride restrained, 

And the mean burgher's joys disdained ; 

And chiefs, who, hostage for their clan. 

Were each from home a banished man. 

There thought upon their own gray tower, 605 

Their waving woods, their feudal power, 

And deemed themselves a shameful part 

Of pageant which they cursed in heart. 

584. Jennet. A small Spanish horse. 

594. Commons' King. So called because he favored the common 
people as opposed to the nobles. 

606. Feudal power. Power to command the services of tenants or 
vassals in case of war. 



CANTO V THE COMBAT 167 

XXII 
Now, in the Castle-park, drew out 
Their checkered bands the joyous rout. 610 

There morricers, with bell at heel 
And blade in hand, their mazes wheel ; 
But chief, beside the butts, there stand 
Bold Robin Hood and all his band, — 
Friar Tuck with quart erstaff and cowl, 615 

Old Scathelocke with his surly scowl, 
Maid Marian, fair as ivory bone, 
Scarlet, and Mutch, and Little John ; 
Their bugles challenge all that will, 
In archery to prove their skill. 620 

The Douglas bent a bow of might, — 
His first shaft centered in the white. 
And when in turn he shot again. 
His second split the first in twain. 
From the King's hand must Douglas take 625 

A silver dart, the archers' stake ; 
Fondly he watched, with watery eye, 
Some answering glance of sympathy, — 
No kind emotion made reply ! 

Indifferent as to archer wight, 630 

The Monarch gave the arrow bright. 

610. Checkered bands. Companies of players in gay dresses. 

613. Butts. Targets. 

614. Robin Hood. A noted robber or outlaw in the reign of Richard I, 
about the year 1 1 90. The exhibition of this renowned outlaw and his band 
was a favorite frolic at festivals in which kings did not disdain to be actors. 

615-618. Friar Tuck, Scathelocke, Maid Marian, Scarlet, Mutch, and 
Little John were companions of Robin Hood, renowned in valor, and 
mentioned in Scott's Jvanhoe, 



l68 THE LADY OF THE LAKE 



xxin 



Now, clear the ring! for, hand to hand. 

The manly wrestlers take their stand. 

Two o'er the rest superior rose, 

And proud demanded mightier foes, — 635 

Nor called in vain, for Douglas came. — 

For life is Hugh of Larbert lame; 

Scarce better John of Alloa's fare, 

Whom senseless home his comrades bare. 

Prize of the wrestling match, the King 640 

To Douglas gave a golden ring. 

While coldly glanced his eye of blue. 

As frozen drop of wintry dew. 

Douglas would speak, but in his breast 

His struggling soul his words suppressed ; 645 

Indignant then he turned him where 

Their arms the brawny yeomen bare, 

To hurl the massive bar in air. 

When each his utmost strength had shown, 

The Douglas rent an earth-fast stone 650 

From its deep bed, then heaved it high, 

And sent the fragment through the sky 

A rood beyond the farthest mark ; 

And still in Stirling's royal park, 

The gray-haired sires, who know the past, 655 

To strangers point the Douglas cast. 

And moralize on the decay 

Of Scottish strength in modern day. 



CANTO V THE COMBAT 169 

XXIV 

The vale with loud applauses rang, 

The Ladies' Rock sent back the clang. 660 

The King, with look unmoved, bestowed 

A purse well filled with pieces broad. 

Indignant smiled the Douglas proud. 

And threw the gold among the crowd. 

Who now with anxious wonder scan, 665 

And sharper glance, the dark gray man ; 

Till whispers rose among the throng. 

That heart so free, and hand so strong, 

Must to the Douglas blood belong. 

The old men marked and shook the head, 670 

To see his hair with silver spread. 

And winked aside, and told each son 

Of feats upon the EngUsh done. 

Ere Douglas of the stalwart hand 

Was exiled from his native land. 675 

The women praised his stately form. 

Though wrecked by many a winter's storm ; 

The youth with awe and wonder saw 

His strength surpassing Nature's law. 

Thus judged, as is their wont, the crowd, 680 

Till murmurs rose to clamors loud. 

But not a glance from that proud ring 

Of peers who circled round the King 

With Douglas held communion kind, 

Or called the banished man to mind ; 685 

660. The Ladies* Rock. The ladies' stand for viewing the sports. 



lyo THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto v 

No, not from those who at the chase 

Once held his side the honored place, 

Begirt his board, and in the field 

Found safety underneath his shield; 

For he whom royal eyes disown, 690 

When was his form to courtiers known ! 

XXV 

The Monarch saw the gambols flag, 

And bade let loose a gallant stag. 

Whose pride, the holiday to crown. 

Two favorite greyhounds should pull down, 695 

That venison free and Bordeaux wine 

Might serve the archery to dine. 

But Lufra, — whom from Douglas' side 

Nor bribe nor threat could e'er divide, 

The fleetest hound in all the North, — 700 

Brave Lufra saw, and darted forth. 

She left the royal hounds midway. 

And dashing on the antlered prey, 

Sunk her sharp muzzle in his flank. 

And deep the flowing life-blood drank. 705 

The King's stout huntsman saw the sport 

By strange intruder broken short. 

Came up, and with his leash unbound 

In anger struck the noble hound. 

The Douglas had endured, that morn, 710 

The King's cold look, the nobles' scorn, 

And last, and worst to spirit proud. 

Had borne the pity of the crowd ; 



CANTO V THE COMBAT 



171 



But Lufra had been fondly bred, 

To share his board, to watch his bed, 715 

And oft would Ellen Lufra's neck 

In maiden glee with garlands deck ; 

They were such playmates that with name . 

Of Lufra Ellen's image came. 

His stifled wrath is brimming high, 720 

In darkened brow and flashing eye; 

As waves before the bark divide. 

The crowd gave way before his stride; 

Needs but a buffet and no more, 

The groom lies senseless in his gore. 725 

Such blow no other hand could deal, 

Though gauntleted in glove of steel. 

XXVI 

Then clamored loud the royal train, 

And brandished swords and staves amain. 

But stern the Baron's warning : *' Back ! 730 

Back, on your lives, ye menial pack ! 

Beware the Douglas. — Yes ! behold. 

King James ! The Douglas, doomed of old, 

And vainly sought for near and far, 

A victim to atone the war, 735 

A willing victim, now attends, 

Nor craves thy grace but for his friends." — 

''Thus is my clemency repaid.? 

Presumptuous Lord! " the Monarch said: 

" Of thy misproud ambitious clan, 740 

740. Misproud. Mistakenly proud. 



172 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto v 

Thou, James of Bothwell, wert the man, 

The only man, in whom a foe 

My woman-mercy would not know ; 

But shall a Monarch's presence brook 

Injurious blow and haughty look? — 745 

What ho ! the Captain of our Guard ! 

Give the offender fitting ward. — 

Break off the sports ! " — for tumult rose, 

And yeomen 'gan to bend their bows, — 

''Break off the sports! " he said, and frowned, 750 

"And bid our horsemen clear the ground." 

XXVII 

Then uproar wild and misarray 

Marred the fair form of festal day. 

The horsemen pricked among the crowd 

Repelled by threats and insult loud; 755 

To earth are borne the old and weak. 

The timorous fly, the women shriek; 

With flint, with shaft, with staff, with bar, 

The hardier urge tumultuous war. 

At once round Douglas darkly sweep 760 

The royal spears in circle deep. 

And slowly scale the pathway steep. 

While on the rear in thunder pour 

The rabble with disordered roar. 

With grief the noble Douglas saw 765 

The Commons rise against the law, 

And to the leading soldier said: 

''Sir John of Hyndford, 't was my blade 



CANTO V THE COMBAT 1 73 

That knighthood on thy shoulder laid ; 

For that good deed permit me then 770 

A word with these misguided men. — 



XXVIII 

*< Hear, gentle friends, ere yet for me 

Ye break the bands of fealty. 

My life, my honor, and my cause, 

I tender free to Scotland's laws. 775 

Are these so weak as must require 

The aid of your misguided ire.-^ 

Or if I suffer causeless wrong. 

Is then my selfish rage so strong, 

My sense of public weal so low, 780 

That, for mean vengeance on a foe. 

Those cords of love I should unbind 

Which knit my country and my kind.? 

O no ! Believe, in yonder tower 

It will not soothe my captive hour, 785 

To know those spears our foes should dread 

For me in kindred gore are red : 

To know, in fruitless brawl begun. 

For me that mother wails her son, 

For me that widow's mate expires, 790 

For me that orphans weep their sires, 

That patriots mourn insulted laws. 

And curse the Douglas for the cause. 

769. Knighthood. This degree was conferred with a stroke of the 
flat part of a sword upon the shoulder by the prince or his representative. 



174 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto v 

O let your patience ward such ill, 

And keep your right to love me still!" 795 

XXIX 

The crowd's wild fury sunk again 

In tears, as tempests melt in rain. 

With lifted hands and eyes, they prayed 

For blessings on his generous head 

Who for his country felt alone, 800 

And prized her blood beyond his own. 

Old men upon the verge of life 

Blessed him who stayed the civil strife ; 

And mothers held their babes on high, 

The self-devoted Chief to spy, 805 

Triumphant over wrongs and ire. 

To whom the prattlers owed a sire. 

Even the rough soldier's heart was moved; 

As if behind some bier beloved. 

With trailing arms and drooping head, 810 

The Douglas up the hill he led. 

And at the Castle's battled verge. 

With sighs resigned his honored charge. 

XXX 

The offended Monarch rode apart. 

With bitter thought and swelling heart, 815 

And would not now vouchsafe again 

Through Stirling streets to lead his train. 

810. Trailing arms. Carrying a gun in an oblique position, pointing 
forward with the breech near the ground. 

812. Battled verge. See note, Canto I, Une 199. 



CANTO V THE COMBAT 175 

'' O Lennox, who would wish to rule 
This changeling crowd, this common fool? 
Hear' St thou," he said, "the loud acclaim 820 

With which they shout the Douglas name? 
With like acclaim the vulgar throat 
Strained for King James their morning note ; 
With like acclaim they hailed the day 
When first I broke the Douglas sway; 825 

And like acclaim would Douglas greet 
• If he could hurl me from my seat. 
Who o'er the herd would wish to reign, 
Fantastic, fickle, fierce, and vain? 
Vain as the leaf upon the stream, 830 

And fickle as a changeful dream ; 
Fantastic as a woman's mood, 
And fierce as Frenzy's fevered blood. 
Thou many-headed monster-thing, 

who would wish to be thy king? — 835 

XXXI 

" But soft ! what messenger of speed 
Spurs hitherward his panting steed? 

1 guess his cognizance afar — 

What from our cousin, John of Mar? " 
" He prays, my liege, your sports keep bound 840 
Within the safe and guarded ground; 
' ' For some foul purpose yet unknown, — 
Most sure for evil to the throne, — 

838. Cognizance. A badge by which a knight in armor could be 
recognized. 



176 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto v 

The outlawed Chieftain, Roderick Dhu, 

Has summoned his rebeUious crew ; 845 

'T is said, in James of Bothwell's aid 

These loose banditti stand arrayed. 

The Earl of Mar this morn from Doune 

To break their muster marched, and soon 

Your Grace will hear of battle fought ; 850 

But earnestly the Earl besought. 

Till for such danger he provide. 

With scanty train you will not ride." 

XXXII 

" Thou warn'st me I have done amiss, — 

I should have earlier looked to this ; 855 

I lost it in this bustling day. — 

Retrace with speed thy former way; 

Spare not for spoiling of thy steed. 

The best of mine shall be thy meed. 

Say to our faithful Lord of Mar, 860 

We do forbid the intended war; 

Roderick this morn in single fight 

Was made our prisoner by a knight, 

And Douglas hath himself and cause 

Submitted to our kingdom's laws. • 865 

The tidings of their leaders lost 

Will soon dissolve the mountain host, 

Nor would we that the vulgar feel. 

For their Chief's crimes, avenging steel. 

Bear Mar our message, Braco, fly! " 870 

He turned his steed, — " My liege, I hie, 



o V THE COMBAT 1 77 

Yet ere I cross this lily lawn 

I fear the broadswords will be drawn." 

The turf the flying courser spurned, 

And to his towers the King returned. 875 

XXXIII 

111 with King James's mood that day 

Suited gay feast and minstrel lay ; 

Soon were dismissed the courtly throng, 

And soon cut short the festal song. 

Nor less upon the saddened town 880 

The evening sunk in sorrow down. 

The burghers spoke of civil jar, 

Of rumored feuds and mountain war, 

Of Moray, Mar, and Roderick Dhu, 

All up in arms ; — the Douglas too, 885 

They mourned him pent within the hold, 

" Where stout Earl William was of old." — 

And there his word the speaker stayed. 

And finger on his lip he laid, 

Or pointed to his dagger blade. 890 

But jaded horsemen from the west 

At evening to the Castle pressed, 

And busy talkers said they bore 

Tidings of fight on Katrine's shore ; 

At noon the deadly fray begun, 895 

And lasted till the set of sun. 

Thus giddy rumor shook the town. 

Till closed the Night her pennons brown. 

887. Earl William. See note, Canto V, line 550. 



Canto Sixth 



THE GUARD-ROOM 



The sun, awakening, through the smoky air 

Of the dark city casts a sullen glance. 
Rousing each caitiff to his task of care. 

Of sinful man the sad inheritance ; 
Summoning revelers from the lagging dance, 

Scaring the prowling robber to his den; 
Gilding on battled tower the warder's lance, 

And warning student pale to leave his pen. 
And yield his drowsy eyes to the kind nurse of men. 



What various scenes, and O, what scenes of woe, lo 

Are witnessed by that red and struggling beam ! 
The fevered patient, from his pallet low, 

Through crowded hospital beholds it stream ; 
The ruined maiden trembles at its gleam. 

The debtor wakes to thought of gyve and jail, 15 
The love-lorn wretch starts from tormenting dream ; 

The wakeful mother, by the glimmering pale. 
Trims her sick infant's couch, and soothes his feeble wail. 

178 



CANTO VI THE GUARD-ROOM 179 

II 

At dawn the towers of Stirling rang 
With soldier-step and weapon-clang, 20 

While drums with rolling note foretell 
Relief to weary sentinel. 
Through narrow loop and casement barred, 
The sunbeams sought the Court of Guard, 
And, struggling with the smoky air, 25 

Deadened the torches' yellow glare. 
In comfortless alliance shone 
The lights through arch of blackened stone, 
And showed wild shapes in garb of war, 
Faces deformed with beard and scar, 30 

All haggard from the midnight watch, 
And fevered with the stern debauch ; 
For the oak table's massive board, 
Flooded with wine, with fragments stored, 
•And beakers drained, and cups o'erthrown, 35 

Showed in what sport the night had flown. 
Some, weary, snored on floor and bench ; 
Some labored still their thirst to quench ; 
Some, chilled with watching, spread their hands 
O'er the huge chimney's dying brands, 40 

While round them, or beside them flung, 
At every step their harness rung. 

23. Loop. Loophole, a narrow opening in a fortification through 

which small arms are discharged. 

32. Stem. Violent. 

42. Harness. Armor. 



l8o THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto vi 

III 

These drew not for their fields the sword, 

Like tenants of a feudal lord, 

Nor owned the patriarchal claim 45 

Of Chieftain in their leader's name ; 

Adventurers they, from far who roved, 

To live by battle which they loved. 

There the Italian's clouded face. 

The swarthy Spaniard's there you trace ; 50 

The mountain-loving Switzer there 

More freely breathed in mountain-air ; 

The Fleming there despised the soil 

That paid so ill the laborer's toil ; 

Their rolls showed French and German name : 55 

And merry England's exiles came. 

To share, with ill-concealed disdain. 

Of Scotland's pay the scanty gain. 

All brave in arms, well trained to wield 

The heavy halberd, brand, and shield ; 60 

In camps licentious, wild, and bold ; 

In pillage fierce and uncontrolled ; 

And now, by holytide and feast. 

From rules of discipline released. 

47. Adventurers. The Scottish armies consisted chiefly of the nobility 
and barons, with their vassals, who held lands under them, for military 
service by themselves and their tenants. James V seems first to have 
introduced, in addition to the militia furnished from these sources, the 
service of a small number of mercenaries, who formed a bodyguard, 
called the Foot-Band. — Scott. 

51. Switzer. An inhabitant of Switzerland. 

53. Fleming. A citizen of Flanders, now part of Belgium. 



CANTO VI . THE GUARD-ROOM " l8l 

IV 

They held debate of bloody fray, 65 

Fought 'twixt Loch Katrine and Achray. 

Fierce was their speech, and mid their words 

Their hands oft grappled to their swords ; 

Nor sunk their tone to spare the ear 

Of wounded comrades groaning near, 70 

Whose mangled limbs and bodies gored 

Bore token of the mountain sword, 

Though, neighboring to the Court of Guard, 

Their prayers and feverish wails were heard, — 

Sad burden to the ruffian joke, 75 

And savage oath by fury spoke ! — 

At length up started John of Brent, 

A yeoman from the banks of Trent ; 

A stranger to respect or fear, 

In peace a chaser of the deer, 80 

In host a hardy mutineer, 

But still the boldest of the crew 

When deed of danger was to do. 

He grieved that day their games cut short. 

And marred the dicer's brawling sport, 85 

And shouted loud, *' Renew the bowl ! 

And, while a merry catch I troll, 

Let each the buxom chorus bear. 

Like brethren of the brand and spear." 

81. Host. An army. 

87. Troll. Sing loudly. 

88. Buxom. Brisk ; frolicsome. 



1 82 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto vi 

V 

Soulier's ^ans 

Our vicar still preaches that Peter and Poule 90 

Laid a swinging long curse on the bonny brown bowl, 

That there 's wrath and despair in the jolly black-jack, 

And the seven deadly sins in a flagon of sack; 

Yet whoop, Barnaby ! off with thy liquor, 

Drink upsees out, and a fig for the vicar ! 95 

Our vicar he calls it damnation to sip 
The ripe ruddy dew of a woman's dear lip. 
Says that Beelzebub lurks in her kerchief so sly, 
And Apollyon shoots darts from her merry black eye ; 
Yet whoop, Jack ! kiss Gillian the quicker, 100 

Till she bloom like a rose, and a fig for the vicar ! 

Our vicar thus preaches, — and why should he not ? 
For the dues of his cure are the placket and pot ; 
And 't is right of his oflRce poor laymen to lurch 
Who infringe the domains of our good Mother Church. 105 
Yet whoop, bully-boys ! off with your liquor, 
Sweet Marjorie 's the word, and a fig for the vicar ! 

VI 

The warder's challenge, heard without, 
Stayed in mid-roar the merry shout. 

92. Black-jack. A pitcher made of black leather. 

95. Upsees out. To the bottom of the tankard. 

103. Cure. Priestly office. — Placket and pot. Women and wine. 

104. Lurch. Outwit, 



CANTO VI THE GUARD-ROOM 183 

A soldier to the portal went, — no 

'< Here is old Bertram, sirs, of Ghent ; 

And — beat for jubilee the drum ! — 

A maid and minstrel with him come." 

Bertram, a Fleming, gray and scarred, 

Was entering now the Court of Guard, 115 

A harper with him, and, in plaid 

All muffled close, a mountain maid. 

Who backward shrunk to 'scape the view 

Of the loose scene and boisterous crew. 

" What news .? " they roared : — "I only know, 120 

From noon till eve we fought with foe. 

As wild and as untamable 

As the rude mountains where they dwell ; 

On both sides store of blood is lost, 

Nor much success can either boast." — 125 

" But whence thy captives, friend .'' such spoil 

As theirs must needs reward thy toil. 

Old dost thou wax, and wars grow sharp ; 

Thou now hast glee-maiden and harp ! 

Get thee an ape, and trudge the land, 130 

The leader of a juggler band." 

VII 

** No, comrade ; — no such fortune mine. 
After the fight these sought our line, 

131. Juggler. The jugglers used to call in the aid of various assist- 
ants to render these performances as captivating as possible. The 
glee-maiden was a necessary attendant. Her duty was tumbling and 
dancing, and therefore the Anglo-Saxon version of St. Mark's Gospel 
States Herodias to have vaulted or tumbled before King Herod. — Scott. 



1 84 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto vi 

That aged harper and the girl, 

And, having audience of the Earl, 135 

Mar bade I should purvey them steed. 

And bring them hitherward with speed. 

Forbear your mirth and rude alarm. 

For none shall do them shame or harm." — 

" Hear ye his boast ? " cried John of Brent, 140 

Ever to strife and jangling bent ; 

" Shall he strike doe beside our lodge. 

And yet the jealous niggard grudge 

To pay the forester his fee ? 

I '11 have my share howe'er it be, 145 

Despite of Moray, Mar, or thee." 

Bertram his forward step withstood ; 

And, burning in his vengeful mood. 

Old Allan, though unfit for strife. 

Laid hand upon his dagger-knife ; 150 

But Ellen boldly stepped between, 

And dropped at once the tartan screen : — 

So, from his morning cloud, appears 

The sun of May through summer tears. 

The savage soldiery, amazed, 155 

As on descended angel gazed ; 

Even hardy Brent, abashed and tamed, 

Stood half admiring, half ashamed. 



VIII 

Boldly she spoke : " Soldiers, attend ! 

My father was the soldier's friend, 160 



CANTO VI THE GUARD-ROOM 185 

Cheered him in camps, in marshes led, 

And with him in the battle bled. 

Not from the valiant or the strong 

Should exile's daughter suffer wrong." 

Answered De Brent, most forward still 165 

In every feat of good or ill : 

" I shame me of the part I played ; 

And thou an outlaw's child, poor maid ! 

An outlaw I by forest laws. 

And merry Needwood knows the cause. 170 

Poor Rose, — if Rose be living now," — 

He wiped his iron eye and brow, — 

*' Must bear such age, I think, as thou. — 

Hear ye, my mates ! I go to call 

The Captain of our watch to hall : 175 

There lies my halberd on the floor ; 

And he that steps my halberd o'er. 

To do the maid injurious part. 

My shaft shall quiver in his heart ! 

Beware loose speech, or jesting rough ; 180 

Ye all know John de Brent. Enough." 

IX 

Their Captain came, a gallant young, — 

Of Tullibardine's house he sprung, — 

Nor wore he yet the spurs of knight ; 

Gay was his mien, his humor light, 185 

170. Needwood. A royal forest in England. 

183. Tullibardine's house. The seat of the Murrays, who were noted 
for their pride. 



1 86 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto vi 

And, though by courtesy controlled, 

Forward his speech, his bearing bold. 

The high-born maiden ill could brook 

The scanning of his curious look 

And dauntless eye : — and yet, in sooth, 190 

Young Lewis was a generous youth ; 

But Ellen's lovely face and mien, 

111 suited to the garb and scene. 

Might lightly bear construction strange. 

And give loose fancy scope to range. 195 

*' Welcome to Stirling towers, fair maid ! 

Come ye to seek a champion's aid. 

On palfrey white, with harper hoar, 

Like errant damosel of yore ? 

Does thy high quest a knight require, 200 

Or may the venture suit a squire ? " 

Her dark eye flashed ; — she paused and 

sighed : — 
" O what have I to do with pride ! — 
Through scenes of sorrow, shame, and strife, 
A suppliant for a father's life, 205 

I crave an audience of the King. 
Behold, to back my suit, a ring. 
The royal pledge of grateful claims. 
Given by the Monarch to Fitz-James." 



X 

The signet ring young Lewis took 
With deep respect and altered look, 

199. Errant damosel. Wandering maiden. 



CANTO VI THE GUARD-ROOM 1 8/ 

And said : " This ring our duties own ; 

And pardon, if to worth unknown, 

In semblance mean obscurely veiled, 

Lady, in aught my folly failed. 215 

Soon as the day flings wide his gates. 

The King shall know what suitor waits. 

Please you meanwhile in fitting bower 

Repose you till his waking hour ; 

Female attendance shall obey 220 

Your best, for service or array. 

Permit I marshal you the way." 

But, ere she followed, with the grace 

And open bounty of her race. 

She bade her slender purse be shared 225 

Among the soldiers of the guard. 

The rest with thanks their guerdon took. 

But Brent, with shy and awkward look. 

On the reluctant maiden's hold 

Forced bluntly back the proffered gold : — 230 

a Forgive a haughty English heart. 

And O, forget its ruder part ! 

The vacant purse shall be my share, 

Which in my barret -cap I '11 bear. 

Perchance, in jeopardy of war, 235 

Where gayer crests may keep afar." 

With thanks — 't was all she could — the maid 

His rugged courtesy repaid. 

234. Barret-cap. A cap formerly worn by soldiers. 



1 88 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto vi 

XI 

When Ellen forth with Lewis went, 

Allan made suit to John of Brent : — 240 

'* My lady safe, O let your grace 

Give me to see my master's face ! 

His minstrel I, — to share his doom 

Bound from the cradle to the tomb. 

Tenth in descent, since first my sires 245 

Waked for his noble house their lyres, 

Nor one of all the race was known 

But prized its weal above their own. 

With the Chief's birth begins our care ; 

Our harp must soothe the infant heir, 250 

Teach the youth tales of fight, and grace 

His earliest feat of field or chase ; 

In peace, in war, our rank we keep. 

We cheer his board, we soothe his sleep. 

Nor leave him till we pour our verse — 255 

A doleful tribute ! — o'er his hearse. 

Then let me share his captive lot ; 

It is my right, — deny it not ! " 

'' Little we reck," said John of Brent, 

" We southern men, of long descent ; 260 

Nor wot we how a name — a word — 

Makes clansmen vassals to a lord : 

Yet kind my noble landlord's part, — 

God bless the house of Beaudesert ! 

And, but I loved to drive the deer 265 

More than to guide the laboring steer, 

I had not dwelt an outcast here. 



CANTO VI THE GUARD-ROOM 1 89 

Come, good old Minstrel, follow me ; 
Thy Lord and Chieftain shalt thou see." 



XII 

Then, from a rusted iron hook, 270 

A bunch of ponderous keys he took, 

Lighted a torch, and Allan led 

Through grated arch and passage dread. 

Portals they passed, where, deep within, 

Spoke prisoner's moan and fetters' din ; 275 

Through rugged vaults, where, loosely stored. 

Lay wheel, and ax, and headsman's sword, 

And many a hideous engine grim. 

For wrenching joint and crushing limb, 

By artists formed who deemed it shame 280 

And sin to give their work a name. 

They halted at a low-browed porch, 

And Brent to Allan gave the torch, 

While bolt and chain he backward rolled. 

And made the bar unhasp its hold. 285 

They entered : — 't was a prison-room 

Of stern security and gloom. 

Yet not a dungeon ; for the day 

Through lofty gratings found its way. 

And rude and antique garniture 290 

Decked the sad walls and oaken floor. 

Such as the rugged days of old 

Deemed fit for captive noble's hold. 

" Here," said De Brent, *'thou mayst remain 

Till the Leech visit him again. 295 



90 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto vi 

Strict is his charge, the warders tell, 

To tend the noble prisoner well." 

Retiring then the bolt he drew. 

And the lock's murmurs growled anew. 

Roused at the sound, from lowly bed 300 

A captive feebly raised his head ; 

The wondering Minstrel looked, and knew — 

Not his dear lord, but Roderick Dhu ! 

For, come from where Clan-Alpine fought, 

They, erring, deemed the Chief he sought. 305 



XIII 

As the tall ship, whose lofty prore 

Shall never stem the billows more, 

Deserted by her gallant band, 

Amid the breakers lies astrand, — 

So on his couch lay Roderick Dhu ! 310 

And oft his fevered limbs he threw 

In toss abrupt, as when her sides 

Lie rocking in the advancing tides, 

That shake her frame with ceaseless beat. 

Yet cannot heave her from her seat ; — 315 

O, how unlike her course at sea ! 

Or his free step on hill and lea ! — 

Soon as the Minstrel he could scan, — 

'* What of thy lady .? — of my clan ? — 

My mother ? — Douglas ? — tell me all ! 320 

Have they been ruined in my fall ? 

306. Prore. The prow or bows of a ship. 



CANTO VI THE GUARD-ROOM 



19 



Ah, yes ! or wherefore art thou here ? 

Yet speak, — speak boldly, — do not fear." — 

For Allan, who his mood well knew, 

Was choked with grief and terror too. — 325 

" Who fought ? — who fled ? — Old man, be 

brief ; — 
Some might, — for they had lost their Chief. 
Who basely live } — who bravely died ? " 
"O, calm thee, Chief!" the Minstrel cried, 
" Ellen is safe ! " " For that thank Heaven ! " 330 
*'And hopes are for the Douglas given ; — 
The Lady Margaret, too, is well ; 
And, for thy clan, — on field or fell. 
Has never harp of minstrel told 
Of combat fought so true and bold. 335 

Thy stately Pine is yet unbent. 
Though many a goodly bough is rent." 



XIV 

The Chieftain reared his form on high. 

And fever's fire was in his eye ; 

But ghastly, pale, and livid streaks 340 

Checkered his swarthy brow and cheeks. 

** Hark, Minstrel ! I have heard thee play, 

With measure bold on festal day. 

In yon lone isle, — again where ne'er 

Shall harper play or warrior hear ! — 345 

That stirring air that peals on high. 

O'er Dermid's race our victory. — 



192 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto vi 

Strike it ! — and then, — for well thou canst, — 

Free from thy minstrel-spirit glanced, 

Fling me the picture of the fight, 350 

When met my clan the Saxon might. 

I '11 listen, till my fancy hears 

The clang of swords, the crash of spears ! 

These grates, these walls, shall vanish then 

For the fair field of fighting men, 355 

And my free spirit burst away, 

As if it soared from battle fray." 

The trembling Bard with awe obeyed, — 

Slow on the harp his hand he laid ; 

But soon remembrance of the sight 360 

He witnessed from the mountain's height, 

With what old Bertram told at night. 

Awakened the full power of song, 

And bore him in career along ; — 

As shallop launched on river's tide, 365 

That slow and fearful leaves the side. 

But, when it feels the middle stream. 

Drives downward swift as lightning's beam. 

XV 

battle of ^tnV an Vuixit 

** The Minstrel came once more to view 

The eastern ridge of Benvenue, 370 

348. strike it! It is popularly told of a famous freebooter that he 
composed the tune known as " Macpherson's Rant " while under sen- 
tence of death and played it at the gallows tree. Some spirited words 
have been adapted to it by Burns. — Scott. 

Battle of Bear an Duine. A skirmish actually took place at a pass 



CANTO VI THE GUARD-ROOM 193 

For ere he parted he would say 
Farewell to lovely Loch Achray — 
Where shall he find, in foreign land, 
So lone a lake, so sweet a strand ! — 

There is no breeze upon the fern, 375 

No ripple on the lake, 
Upon her eyry nods the erne, 

The deer has sought the brake ; 
The small birds will not sing aloud. 

The springing trout lies still, 380 

So darkly glooms yon thunder-cloud. 
That swathes, as with a purple shroud, 

Benledi's distant hill. 
Is it the thunder's solemn sound 

That mutters deep and dread, 385 

Or echoes from the groaning ground 

The warrior's measured tread ? 
Is it the lightning's quivering glance 

That on the thicket streams. 
Or do they flash on spear and lance 390 

The sun's retiring beams ? — 
I see the dagger-crest of Mar, 
I see the Moray's silver star, 
Wave o'er the cloud of Saxon war. 
That up the lake comes winding far ! 395 

To hero bound for battle-strife. 
Or bard of martial lay, 

thus called in the Trosachs, and closed with the remarkable incident 
mentioned in the text. It was greatly posterior in date to the reign of 
James V. — Scott. 

377. Erne. The sea eagle. 



94 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto vi 

'T were worth ten years of peaceful life, 
One glance at their array ! 



XVI 

" Their light -armed archers far and near 400 

Surveyed the tangled ground, 
Their center ranks, with pike and spear, 

A twilight forest frowned, 
Their barded horsemen in the rear 

The stern battalia crowned. 405 

No cymbal clashed, no clarion rang. 

Still were the pipe and drum ; 
Save heavy tread, and armor's clang. 

The sullen march was dumb. 
There breathed no wind their crests to shake, 410 

Or wave their flags abroad ; 
Scarce the frail aspen seemed to quake. 

That shadowed o'er their road. 
Their vaward scouts no tidings bring, 

Can rouse no lurking foe, 415 

Nor spy a trace of living thing. 

Save when they stirred the roe ; 
The host moves like a deep-sea wave. 
Where rise no rocks its pride to brave, 

High-swelling, dark, and slow. 420 

The lake is passed, and now they gain 
A narrow and a broken plain, 

404. Barded. Wearing armor. 

405. Battalia. Order of battle. 



CANTO VI THE GUARD-ROOM 195 

Before the Trosachs' rugged jaws ; 

And here the horse and spearmen pause, 

While, to explore the dangerous glen, 425 

Dive through the pass the archer-men. 

XVII 

"At once there rose so wild a yell 
Within that dark and narrow dell, 
As all the fiends from heaven that fell 
Had pealed the banner-cry of hell ! 430 

Forth from the pass in tumult driven. 
Like chaff before the wind of heaven. 

The archery appear : 
For life ! for life ! their flight they ply — 
And shriek, and shout, and battle-cry, 435 

And plaids and bonnets waving high. 
And broadswords flashing to the sky. 

Are maddening in the rear. 
Onward they drive in dreadful race. 

Pursuers and pursued ; 44° 

Before that tide of flight and chase. 
How shall it keep its rooted place. 

The spearmen's twilight wood ? — 
'Down, down,' cried Mar, 'your lances down! 

Bear back both friend and foe ! ' — 445 

Like reeds before the tempest's frown, 
That serried grove of lances brown 

At once lay leveled low ; 
And closely shouldering side to side. 
The bristling ranks the onset bide. — 450 



196 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto vi 

* We '11 quell the savage mountaineer, 
As their Tinchel cows the game ! 

They come as fleet as forest deer, 
We '11 drive them back as tame.' 

XVIII 

" Bearing before them in their course 455 

The relics of the archer force. 
Like wave with crest of sparkling foam, 
Right onward did Clan-Alpine come. 
Above the tide, each broadsword bright 
Was brandishing like beam of light, 460 

Each targe was dark below ; 
And with the ocean's mighty swing, 
When heaving to the tempest's wing, 
They hurled them on the foe. 
I heard the lance's shivering crash, 465 

As when the whirlwind rends the ash ; 
I heard the broadsword's deadly clang. 
As if a hundred anvils rang ! 
But Moray wheeled his rearward rank 
Of horsemen on Clan-Alpine's flank, — 470 

* My banner-man, advance ! 
I see,' he cried, * their column shake. 
Now, gallants ! for your ladies' sake, 

Upon them with the lance 1 ' — 
The horsemen dashed among the rout, 475 

As deer break through the broom ; 

452. Tinchel. A circle of sportsmen, by surrounding a great space and 
gradually narrowing, brought immense quantities of deer together, which 
usually made desperate efforts to break through the Tinchel. — Scott. 



CANTO VI THE GUARD-ROOM 



97 



Their steeds are stout, their swords are out, 

They soon make Hghtsome room. 
Clan-Alpine's best are backward borne — 

Where, where was Roderick then ! 480 

One blast upon his bugle-horn 

Were worth a thousand men. 
And refluent through the pass of fear 

The battle's tide was poured ; 
Vanished the Saxon's struggling spear, 485 

Vanished the mountain-sword. 
As Bracklinn's chasm, so black and steep, 

Receives her roaring linn, 
As the dark caverns of the deep 

Suck the wild whirlpool in, 490 

So did the deep and darksome pass 
Devour the battle's mingled mass ; 
None linger now upon the plain, 
Save those who ne'er shall fight again. 

XIX 

" Now westward rolls the battle's din, 495 

That deep and doubling pass within. — 
Minstrel, away ! the work of fate 
Is bearing on ; its issue wait. 
Where the rude Trosachs' dread defile 
Opens on Katrine's lake and isle. 500 

Gray Benvenue I soon repassed. 
Loch Katrine lay beneath me cast. 
The sun is set ; — the clouds are met. 
The lowering scowl of heaven 



THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto vi 

An inky hue of livid blue 505 

To the deep lake has given; 
Strange gusts of wind from mountain glen 
Swept o'er the lake, then sunk again. 
I heeded not the eddying surge, 
Mine eye but saw the Trosaehs' gorge, 510 

Mine ear but heard that sullen sound. 
Which like an earthquake shook the ground. 
And spoke the stern and desperate strife 
That parts not but with parting life, 
Seeming, to minstrel ear, to toll 515 

The dirge of many a passing soul. 

Nearer it comes — the dim-wood glen 

The martial flood disgorged again. 
But not in mingled tide; 

The plaided warriors of the North 520 

High on the mountain thunder forth 
And overhang its side, 

While by the lake below appears 

The darkening cloud of Saxon spears. 

At weary bay each shattered band, 525 

Eying their foemen, sternly stand; 

Their banners stream like tattered sail. 

That flings its fragments to the gale, 

And broken arms and disarray 

Marked the fell havoc of the day. 530 

XX 

"Viewing the mountain's ridge askance. 
The Saxons stood in sullen trance, 



CANTO VI THE GUARD-ROOM 199 

Till Moray pointed with his lance, 

And cried : ' Behold yon isle ! — 
See ! none are left to guard its strand 535 

But women weak, that wring the hand: 
'T is there of yore the robber band 

Their booty wont to pile; — 
My purse, with bonnet-pieces store. 
To him will swim a bow-shot o'er, 540 

And loose a shallop from the shore. 
Lightly we '11 tame the war-wolf then. 
Lords of his mate, and brood, and den.' 
Forth from the ranks a spearman sprung. 
On earth his casque and corselet rung, 545 

He plunged him in the wave: — 
All saw the deed, — the purpose knew. 
And to their clamors Benvenue 

A mingled echo gave; 
The Saxons shout, their mate to cheer, 550 

The helpless females scream for fear. 
And yells for rage the mountaineer. 
'T was then, as by the outcry riven. 
Poured down at once the lowering heaven : 
A whirlwind swept Loch Katrine's breast, 555 

Her billows reared their snowy crest. 
Well for the swimmer swell they high. 
To mar the Highland marksman's eye; 
For round him showered, mid rain and hail. 
The vengeful arrows of the Gael. 560 

539. Bonnet-pieces. A gold coin on which the king's head was rep- 
resented with a bonnet instead of a crown, coined by the " Commons' 
King." — Taylor. 



200 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto vi 

In vain. — He nears the isle — and lo ! 

His hand is on a shallop's bow. 

Just then a flash of lightning came, 

It tinged the waves and strand with flame; 

I marked Duncraggan's widowed dame, 565 

Behind an oak I saw her stand, 

A naked dirk gleamed in her hand : — 

It darkened, — but amid the moan 

Of waves I heard a dying groan ; — 

Another flash ! — the spearman floats 570 

A weltering corse beside the boats, 

And the stern matron o'er him stood. 

Her hand and dagger streaming blood. 

XXI 

" * Revenge ! revenge ! ' the Saxons cried, 

The Gaels' exulting shout replied. 575 

Despite the elemental rage. 

Again they hurried to engage; 

But, ere they closed in desperate fight. 

Bloody with spurring came a knight. 

Sprung from his horse, and from a crag 580 

Waved 'twixt the hosts a milk-white flag. 

Clarion and trumpet by his side 

Rung forth a truce-note high and wide. 

While, in the Monarch's name, afar 

A herald's voice forbade the war, 585 

For Bothwell's lord and Roderick bold 

Were both, he said, in captive hold." — 

565. Duncraggan's widowed dame. See Canto HI, lines 428-451. 
586. Bothwell's lord. The Douglas. 



CANTO VI THE GUARD-ROOM ' 201 

But here the lay made sudden stand, 

The harp escaped the Minstrel's hand ! 

Oft had he stolen a glance, to spy 59° 

How Roderick brooked his minstrelsy: 

At first, the Chieftain, to the chime. 

With lifted hand kept feeble time; 

That motion ceased, — yet feeling strong 

Varied his look as changed the song; 595 

At length, no more his deafened ear 

The minstrel melody can hear ; 

His face grows sharp, — his hands are clenched. 

As if some pang his heart-strings wrenched ; 

Set are his teeth, his fading eye 6oo 

Is sternly fixed on vacancy; 

Thus, motionless and moanless, drew 

His parting breath stout Roderick Dhu ! — 

Old Allan-bane looked on aghast. 

While grim and still his spirit passed ; 605 

But when he saw that life was fled. 

He poured his wailing o'er the dead. 

XXII 

lament 

"And art thou cold and lowly laid. 

Thy foeman's dread, thy people's aid, 

Breadalbane's boast, Clan- Alpine's shade'. 610 

For thee shall none a requiem say ? — 

For thee, who loved the minstrel's lay. 

For thee, of Bothwell's house the stay, 

The shelter of her exiled line, 



202 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto vi 

E'en in this prison-house of thine, 615 

I '11 wail for Alpine's honored Pine ! 

'' What groans shall yonder valleys fill ! 

What shrieks of grief shall rend yon hill ! 

What tears of burning rage shall thrill, 

When mourns thy tribe thy battles done, 620 

Thy fall before the race was won, 

Thy sword ungirt ere set of sun ! 

There breathes not clansman of thy line, 

But would have given his life for thine. 

O, woe for Alpine's honored Pine ! 625 

*' Sad was thy lot on mortal stage ! — 

The captive thrush may brook the cage, 

The prisoned eagle dies for rage. 

Brave spirit, do not scorn my strain ! 

And, when its notes awake again, 630 

Even she, so long beloved in vain, 

Shall with my harp her voice combine, 

And mix her woe and tears with mine, 

To wail Clan- Alpine's honored Pine." 

xxni 
Ellen the while, with bursting heart, 635 

Remained in lordly bower apart. 
Where played, with many-colored gleams, 
Through storied pane the rising beams. 
In vain on gilded roof they fall. 
And lightened up a tapestried wall, 640 

638. storied pane. "Windows adorned with historical or legendary 
paintings. 



CANTO VI THE GUARD-ROOM 203 

And for her use a menial train 

A rich collation spread in vain. 

The banquet proud, the chamber gay, 

Scarce draw one curious glance astray; 

Or if she looked, 't was but to say, 645 

With better omen dawned the day 

In that lone isle, where waved on high 

The dun-deer's hide for canopy; 

Where oft her noble father shared 

The simple meal her care prepared, 650 

While Lufra, crouching by her side. 

Her station claimed with jealous pride. 

And Douglas, bent on woodland game, 

Spoke of the chase to Malcolm Graeme, 

Whose answer, oft at random made, 655 

The wandering of his thoughts betrayed. 

Those who such simple joys have known 

Are taught to prize them when they 're gone. 

But sudden, see, she lifts her head. 

The window seeks with cautious tread. 660 

What distant music has the power 

To win her in this woeful hour .-* 

'T was from a turret that o'erhung 

Her latticed bower, the strain was sung. 

XXIV 

lap of tbe ^^mprifioncli |)untfiman 

" My hawk is tired of perch and hood, 665 

My idle greyhound loathes his food. 
My horse is weary of his stall. 



204 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto vi 

And I am sick of captive thrall. 

I wish I were as I have been, 

Hunting the hart in forest green, 670 

With bended bow and bloodhound free. 

For that 's the life is meet for me. 

I hate to learn the ebb of time 

From yon dull steeple's drowsy chime, 

Or mark it as the sunbeams crawl, 675 

Inch after inch, along the wall. 

The lark was wont my matins ring. 

The sable rook my vespers sing; 

These towers, although a king's they be. 

Have not a hall of joy for me. 680 

No more at dawning morn I rise. 

And sun myself in Ellen's eyes. 

Drive the fleet deer the forest through. 

And homeward wend with evening dew; 

A blithesome welcome blithely meet, 685 

And lay my trophies at her feet, 

While fled the eve on wing of glee, — 

That life is lost to love and me ! " 

XXV 

The heart-sick lay was hardly said. 

The listener had not turned her head, 690 

It trickled still, the starting tear, 

When light a footstep struck her ear. 

And Snowdoun's graceful Knight was near. 

She turned the hastier, lest again 

The prisoner should renew his strain. 695 



CANTO VI THE GUARD-ROOM 205 

"O welcome, brave Fitz-James ! " she said; 

'' How may an almost orphan maid 

Pay the deep debt — " " O say not so ! 

To me no gratitude you owe. 

Not mine, alas ! the boon to give, 700 

And bid thy noble father live; 

I can but be thy guide, sweet maid, 

With Scotland's King thy suit to aid. 

No tyrant he, though ire and pride 

May lay his better mood aside. 705 

Come, Ellen, come ! 't is more than time, 

He holds his court at morning prime." 

With beating heart, and bosom wrung. 

As to a brother's arm she clung. 

Gently he dried the falling tear, 710 

And gently whispered hope and cheer; 

Her faltering steps half led, half stayed. 

Through gallery fair and high arcade. 

Till at his touch its wings of pride 

A portal arch unfolded wide. 715 

XXVI 

Within 't was brilliant all and light, 

A thronging scene of figures bright ; 

It glowed on Ellen's dazzled sight. 

As when the setting sun has given 

Ten thousand hues to summer even, 720 

707. Morning prime. Dawn, 

713. Arcade. A series of openings, or recesses, with arched ceilings 
supported by columns. 



206 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto vi 

And from their tissue fancy frames 

Aerial knights and fairy dames. 

Still by Fitz-James her footing staid; 

A few faint steps she forward made, 

Then slow her drooping head she raised, 725 

And fearful round the presence gazed; 

For him she sought who owned this state, 

The dreaded Prince whose will was fate ! — 

She gazed on many a princely port 

Might well have ruled a royal court ; 730 

On many a splendid garb she gazed, — 

Then turned bewildered and amazed. 

For all stood bare; and in the room 

Fitz-James alone wore cap and plume. 

To him each lady's look was lent, 735 

On him each courtier's eye was bent; 

Midst furs and silks and jewels sheen. 

He stood, in simple Lincoln green. 

The center of a glittering ring, — 

And Snowdoun's Knight is Scotland's King ! 740 

726. Presence. Presence chamber, the room in which a great person 
receives guests. 

740. Snowdoun's Knight is Scotland's King. James V, of whom we 
are treating, was a monarch whose good and benevolent intentions 
often rendered his romantic freaks venial, if not respectable, since, from 
his anxious attention to the interests of the lower and most oppressed 
class of his subjects, he was, as we have seen, popularly termed the 
King of the Commons. For the purpose of seeing that justice was reg- 
ularly administered, and frequently from the less justifiable motive of 
gallantry, he used to traverse the vicinage of his several palaces in 
various disguises. — Scott. 



CANTO VI THE GUARD-ROOM 207 

XXVII 
As wreath of snow on mountain-breast 
Slides from the rock that gave it rest, 
Poor Ellen glided from her stay, 
And at the Monarch's feet she lay; 
No word her choking voice commands, — 745 

She showed the ring, — she clasped her hands. 
O, not a moment could he brook, 
The generous Prince, that suppliant look ! 
Gently he raised her, — and, the while. 
Checked with a glance the circle's smile ; 750 

Graceful, but grave, her brow he kissed, 

And bade her terrors be dismissed : 

" Yes, fair ; the wandering poor Fitz-James 

The fealty of Scotland claims. 

To him thy woes, thy wishes, bring ; 7^5 

He will redeem his signet ring. 

Ask naught for Douglas ; — yester even. 

His Prince and he have much forgiven ; 

Wrong hath he had from slanderous tongue, 

I, from his rebel kinsmen, wrong. 760 

We would not to the vulgar crowd 

Yield what they craved with clamor loud ; 

Calmly we heard and judged his cause, 

Our council aided and our laws. 

I stanched thy father's death-feud stern 765 

With stout De Vaux and gray Glencairn ; 

And Bothwell's Lord henceforth we own 
The friend and bulwark of our throne. 

But, lovely infidel, how now .? 



208 THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto vi 

What clouds thy misbelieving brow ? 770 

Lord James of Douglas, lend thine aid ; 
Thou must confirm this doubting maid." 

xxvni 

Then forth the noble Douglas sprung, 

And on his neck his daughter hung. 

The Monarch drank, that happy hour, 775 

The sweetest, holiest draught of Power, — 

When it can say with godlike voice. 

Arise, sad Virtue, and rejoice ! 

Yet would not James the general eye 

On nature's raptures long should pry ; 780 

He stepped between — '<Nay, Douglas, nay. 

Steal not my proselyte away ! 

The riddle 't is my right to read. 

That brought this happy chance to speed. 

Yes, Ellen, when disguised I stray 785 

In life's more low but happier way, 

'T is under name which veils my power. 

Nor falsely veils, — for Stirling's tower 

Of yore the name of Snowdoun claims. 

And Normans call me James Fitz-James. 790 

Thus watch I o'er insulted laws. 

Thus learn to right the injured cause." 

Then, in a tone apart and low, — 

"Ah, little traitress ! none must know 

What idle dream, what lighter thought, 795 

What vanity full dearly bought, 

784. To speed. To a successful result. 



CANTO VI THE GUARD-ROOM 209 

Joined to thine eye's dark witchcraft, drew 

My spell-bound steps to Benvenue 

In dangerous hour, and all but gave 

Thy Monarch's life to mountain glaive ! " 800 

Aloud he spoke : " Thou still dost hold 

That little talisman of gold. 

Pledge of my faith, Fitz-James's ring, — 

What seeks fair Ellen of the King ? " 



XXIX 

Full well the conscious maiden guessed 805 

He probed the weakness of her breast ; 

But with that consciousness there came 

A lightening of her fears for Graeme, 

And more she deemed the Monarch's ire 

Kindled 'gainst him who for her sire 810 

Rebellious broadsword boldly drew ; 

And, to her generous feeling true, 

She craved the grace of Roderick Dhu. 

" Forbear thy suit ; — the King of kings 

Alone can stay life's parting wings. 815 

I know his heart, I know his hand. 

Have shared his cheer, and proved his brand ; — 

My fairest earldom would I give 

To bid Clan-Alpine's Chieftain live ! 

Hast thou no other boon to crave? 820 

No other captive friend to save ? " 

Blushing, she turned her from the King, 

And to the Douglas gave the ring. 



2IO THE LADY OF THE LAKE canto vi 

As if she wished her sire to speak 

The suit that stained her glowing cheek. 825 

" Nay, then, my pledge has lost its force, 

And stubborn justice holds her course. 

Malcolm, come forth ! " — and, at the word, 

Down kneeled the Graeme to Scotland's Lord. 

'' For thee, rash youth, no suppliant sues, 830 

From thee may Vengeance claim her dues, 

Who, nurtured underneath our smile, 

Hast paid our care by treacherous wile. 

And sought amid thy faithful clan 

A refuge for an outlawed man, 835 

Dishonoring thus thy loyal name. — 

Fetters and warder for the Graeme ! " 

His chain of gold the King unstrung, 

The links o'er Malcolm's neck he flung, 

Then gently drew the glittering band, 840 

And laid the clasp on Ellen's hand. 



Harp of the North, farewell ! The hills grow dark. 

On purple peaks a deeper shade descending ; 
In twilight copse the glow-worm lights her spark, 

The deer, half seen, are to the covert wending. 845 
Resume thy wizard elm ! the fountain lending, 

And the wild breeze, thy wilder minstrelsy ; 
Thy numbers sweet with nature's vespers blending, 

With distant echo from the fold and lea, 
And herd-boy's evening pipe, and hum of housing bee. 



CANTO VI THE GUARD-ROOM 211 

Yet, once again, farewell, thou Minstrel Harp ! 851 

Yet, once again, forgive my feeble sway. 
And little reck I of the censure sharp 

May idly cavil at an idle lay. 
Much have I owed thy strains on life's long way, 855 

Through secret woes the world has never known, 
When on the weary night dawned wearier day. 

And bitterer was the grief devoured alone. — 
That I o'erlive such woes. Enchantress ! is thine own. 

Hark ! as my lingering footsteps slow retire, 860 

Some Spirit of the Air has waked thy string ! 
'T is now a seraph bold, with touch of fire, 

'T is now the brush of Fairy's frolic wing. 
Receding now the dying numbers ring 

Fainter and fainter down the rugged dell ; 865 

And now the mountain breezes scarcely bring 

A wandering witch-note of the distant spell — 
And now, 't is silent all ! — Enchantress, fare thee well ! 



INDEX TO NOTES 



The Numbers refer to Pages 



Abroad, 157. 

According pause, 4. 

Adventurers, 180. 

Allan, 130. 

Allan-bane, 37. 

Alpine, 46. 

Anathema, 84. 

And the best of Loch Lomond, 

etc., 56. 
Arcade, 205. 
Ardent symphony, 4. 
Ascabart, 29. 
Astound, 68. 
Augur scathe, 125. 
Ave Maria, 105. 

Balvaig, 100. 

Ban, 83. 

Bannered Pine, 52. 

Bannochar, 56. 

Barded, 194. 

Barret-cap, 187. 

Battalia, 194. 

Batten, 132. 

Battled fence, 68. 

Battled verge, 174. 

Battlement, 13. 

Battle of Baal' an Duine, 192, 

Bead, 17. 

Beala-nam-bo, 86. 

Bear maha, iii. 



Beamed frontlet, 5. 

Beetled, 67. 

Beltane game, 51. 

Ben-an, 17. 

Ben-an's gray scalp, 85. 

Benharrow, 78. 

Benighted, 23. 

Benledi, 8. 

Ben-Shie, 82. 

Benvenue, 8. 

BenvoirHch, 5. 

Beshrew, 18. 

Black-jack, 182. 

Black Sir Roderick, 47. 

Blair-Drummond, 161. 

Blantyre, 60. 

Blazed, 114. 

Bleeding Heart, 46. 

Blench, 67. 

Bochastle, 154. 

Bochastle's heath, 8. 

Bonnet-pieces, 199. 

Bonnets, 53. 

Bosky, 90. 

Boss, III. 

Bothwell's bannered hall, 43. 

Bothwell's lord, 200. 

Boune, 109, 160. 

Bourgeon, 55. 

Bourne, 125. 

Bower, 42. 



213 



214 



THE LADY OF THE LAKE 



Bracken, 98. 

Bracklinn, 49. 

Br^es, 64. 

Braes of Doune, 109. 

Brake, 10. 

Brand, 36. 

Breadalbane, 56. 

Bride of Heaven, 163. 

Brigg of Turk, 9. 

Broke, 112. 

Brook, 29. 

Broom, 16. 

Bruce, loi. 

Burden, 54. 

Butts, 167. 

Buxom, 181. 

By his Chieftain's hand, 100. 

By the rood, 23. 

Cabala, 81. 
Caledon, 4. 

Cambus-kenneth's fane, 118. 
Cambusmore, 8. 
Canna, 52. 
Cardross, loi. 
Carpet knight, 156. 
Castle, 165. 
Chanter, 53. 
Checkered bands, 167. 
Checkered shroud, 70. 
Christened man, 121. 
Clan, 42. 
Clarion, 54. 
Claymore, 50. 
Cognizance, 175. 
Coif, 96. 
Coil, 100. 

Coilantogle's ford, 140. 
Coir-Uriskin, 86, loi. 
Commons' King, 166. 



Conceit, 108. 
Coronach, 91. 
Correi, 92. 
Could bear, 28. 
Crosslet, 83. 
Cumber, 92. 
Cure, 182. 
Cushat, T"]. 

Daggled, 135. 

Darkling, 120. 

Deanstown, 161. 

Death-halloo, 10. 

Death-wound, 10. 

Dennan's Row, iii. 

Devan, 130. 

Device, 27. 

Disowned by every noble peer, 47. 

Dispensation, 48. 

Douglas, 164. 

Douglases, 43. 

Doune, 145, 161. 

Down, -jT^. 

Druid, 78. 

Duchray, loi. 

Duncraggan, 90. 

Duncraggan's widowed dame, 200. 

Dun deer's hide, 88. 

Dunfermline, 124. 

Eagle wings unfurled, 154. 

Earl William, 177. 

Earn, 115. 

Elfin Queen, 121. 

Embossed, 9. 

Emprise, 25. 

Erne, 193. 

Errant damosel, 186. 

Errant-knight, 25. 

Ettrick, 64. 



INDEX TO NOTES 



215 



Falchion, 18. 

Fatal green, 121. 

Favor, 136. 

Fell, 72. 

Fellest, 30. 

Ferragus, 29. 

Feudal power, 166. 

Fiery Cross, 'J't,, 75. 

Fleming, 180. 

Flushing, 92. 

For retreat in dangerous hour, 

26. 
Franciscan steeple, 164. 
Friar Tuck, 167. 
From targe and jack, 152. 

Gael, 143. 
Gallangad, iii. 
Gauntlet, 35. 
Glaive, 115. 
Glen, 79. 
Glenartney, 5. 
Glenfinlas, 62. 
Glen Fruin, 56. 
Glen Luss, 56. 
Glozing, 64. 
Goshawk, 86. 
Graeme, 41, loi. 
Grisly, 35. 
Grot, 119. 
Guerdon, 48. 

Hallowed creed, 79. 
Hap, 38. 

Hardened flesh, 139. 
Harness, 179. 
Harp of the North, 3. 
Heath, 8. 
Heath-cock, 23. 
Henchman, 72. 



Hero's Targe, 112. 

Hest, 94. 

Highland plunderers, 18. 

His Border spears with Hotspur's 

bows, 51. 
His lordship the embattled field, 

128. 
His standard falls, 34, 
His targe he threw, etc., 157. 
Holy-Rood, 47, 146. 
Host, 181. 
Hunters live so cheerily, etc., 133. 

Idaean vine, 27. 
Inch-Cailliach, 84. 
Incumbent, 102. 

In Holy-Rood a knight he slew, 
47- 

Jennet, 166. 
Juggler, 183. 

Ken, 6. 

Kerchief, 96. 

Kerns, iii. 

Kier, 161. r 

Kindly, 123. 

Knighthood, 173. 

Lackey, 72. 

Ladies' Rock, 169. 

Lanrick mead, 88. 

Lendrick, 161. 

Lennox foray, 46. 

Leven-glen, 56. 

Lincoln green, 24. 

Lineage of the Bleeding Heart, 

66. 
Links of Forth, 66. 
Linn, 7, 



2l6 



THE LADY OF THE LAKE 



Little John, 167. 
Loch Achray, 8. 
Lochard, 8. 
Loch Con, loi. 
Loch Katrine, 16. 
Loch Lomond, 46. 
Loop, 179. 
Lubnaig, 97, 
Lurch, 182. 

Maid Marian, 167. 
Maronnan, 49. 
Matins, 17. 
Mavis, 119. 
Measured mood, 20. 
Meggat, 64. 
Menials, 29. 
Menteith, 7, 56. 
Merle, 119. 
Mewed, 147, 
Midnight blaze, 99. 
Minaret, 13. 
Minstrel, 3. 
Misproud, 171. 
Mold, 124. 
Monan, 4. 
Monk, 78. 

Moray's silver star, 115. 
More than kindred knew, 30. 
Morning prime, 205. 
Morrice-dancers, 164. 
Muster, 145. 
Mutch, 167. 

My sovereign holds in ward my 
land, 'j^. 

Naiad, 19. 
Needwood, 185. 
Nighted, 69. 
Numbers, 3, 



Ochtertyre, i6r. 

O my sweet William, 132. 

On the visioned future bent, 24. 

Opening pack, 6. 

Orisons, 36. 

O sad and fatal mound, 164. 

Page, single, 103. 

Pagod, 13. 

Palfrey, 160. 

Pennons, 132, 145. 

Percy's Norman pennon, 59. 

Pibroch, 32. 

Placket and pot, 182. 

Plaid, 20. 

Pole-ax, 95. 

Port, 30. 

Postern gate, 163. 

Presence, 206. 

Pricked, 161. 

Prore, 190. 

Prune, 22. 

Ptarmigan, 23. 

Quarry, 10. 
Questing, 89. 

Reave, 45. 

Reck of, 128. 

Red streamers of the north, 116. 

Rednock, loi. 

Reft, 62. 

Regent, 146. 

Reveille, 33, 

Ritual, 77. 

River Demon, 82. 

Robin Hood, 167. 

Rocky isle, 26. 

Roderigh Vich Alpine, 55. 

Ross-dhu, 56. 



INDEX TO NOTES 



217 



Sable-lettered page, 81. 

Sable pale of Mar, 115. 

Saint Fillan, 3. 

Saint Hubert, 9. 

Saint Modan, 42. 

Satyr, 103. 

Scarlet, 167. 

Scathed, 85. 

Scathelocke, 167. 

Scaur, 89. 

Seek other cause 'gainst Roderick 

Dhu, 148. 
Sepulchral yew, 84. 
Sheen, 14. 
Shingles, 144. 
Shingly, S^- 
Shrewdly, 7. 
Shrouds, 49. 
Signet sage, 22. 
Signs, 67. 
Single page, 103. 
Slaked, 50. 

Slighting the need, 23. 
Slip, 139. 
Slogan, 56. 
Snood, 20, 80. 
Snowdoun, 30. 
Snowdoun's Knight is Scotland's 

King, 206. 
Sooth, 25. 

Sounds, too, had come, 82. 
Speed, 38. 
Spey, 44. 
Stag of ten, 133. 
Stance, 116. 
Stark, 165. 
Stern, 179. 
Stirling, 162. 
Stirling's porch, 67. 
Stock, 10. 



Storied pane, 202. 
Stranger to respect and power, 147. 
Strath, 79, 

Strath-Endrick glen, 63. 
Strath-Gartney, 100. 
Strath-Ire, 94. 
Strathspey, 46. 
Streight or strait, 65. 
Strike it, 192. 
Strook, 85. 
Stumah, 92. 

Such cheek should feel the mid- 
night air, 71. 
Summer solstice, 138. 
Switzer, 180. 

Taghairm, no. 

Tamed the Border-side, 64. 

Targe, 94. 

Target, 28. 

Tartans brave, 52. 

Teviot, 64. 

That monk, of savage form and 

face, 78. 
That party conquers in the strife, 

114. 
The bannered towers of Doune, 

161. 
The burghers hold their sports 

to-day, 164. 
The flooded Teith, 8. 
Three mighty lakes, 154. 
Thrilling sounds, etc., 53. 
Tinchel, 196. 
Tine-man, 51. 
Torry, 161. 
To speed, 208. 
To steal their meal, 142. 
Tower, 13. 
Trailing arms, 174. 



21 



THE LADY OF THE LAKE 



Train, 127. 
Triple steel, 158, 
Troll, 181. 
Trosachs, 11. 
Trowed, 117. 
Truncheon, 147. 
TuUibardine's house, 
Tweed, 44. 



[85. 



Uam-Var, 6. 

Unasked his birth and name, 

Unhooded, 60. 

Unless he climb, etc., 15. 

Upsees out, 182. 

Vair, 120. 
Vennachar, 9. 
Vest of pall, 120. 
Votaress, 49. 



30- 



Waned crescent, 59. 

Weeds, 129. 

Weird, 31. 

Whinyard, 10. 

White-haired Allan-bane, ■};]. 

Wildering, 16. 

Wist, 124. 

Witch-elm, 3. 

Without a pass from Roderick 

Dhu, 152. 
Woe worth the chase, 12. 
Wold, 119. 
Woned, 121. 
Wont, 22. 
V7ot, 31. 
Wreak, 136. 

Yarrow, 64. 
Yeoman, 165. 



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